Must-watch: Year of Ren Yin - the people staying put in a changed Hong Kong
After the success of CNA's One Way, which followed the lives of people who left Hong Kong in the wake of a political crackdown, makers of the hit documentary series are back with a new title: Year of Ren Yin, which documents the lives of people who chose to stay on despite the drastic changes in the city.
Many chose to leave Hong Kong permanently in search of a better life abroad, as documented in CNA's hit series One Way. But there are millions that chose to stay put, even as the assertion of control by Beijing has altered the city's overall vibe and outlook.
The makers of One Way are back with a new series: Year of Ren Yin, which looks at the Hong Kongers who have chosen to stay. The series, which debuted on Jan 31 on CNA, is already getting glowing reviews.
"In two years, Hong Kong’s population has shrunk by more than 200,000. That is a dramatic turn of its population trajectory. Yet 7.29 million people still remain. I wanted to examine this idea of what’s keeping them here. I had felt that the ones who left had more or less the same reasons, but the people who stayed were doing it for reasons quite unique to themselves," says CNA's international correspondent Wei Du, who directed Year of Ren Yin.
She explained what inspired her to make this documentary: "In February last year, Hong Kong was actually talking about a lockdown. The idea was everyone had to stay home for seven days and get tested three times. This was 2022, a year after vaccines became widely available. It felt surreal. HK used to be known as a pragmatic place, but I sensed something about the city fundamentally changed.
"It wasn’t just the law and the politics. It started to seep into every aspect of life. And I wanted to frame this change maybe with a more historic backdrop.
"That was when I found out that 1842, the year Hong Kong became a British colony, was also a Year of Ren Yin (which happens once every 60 years on the Chinese calendar).
"It seemed Year of Ren Yin always brought changes that went into the very heart of what the city was and who the people were," said Wei Du.
Year of Ren Yin features four Hong Kong residents. They are a photographer-turned-taxi driver who is again the at risk of losing his livelihood after the city shuts nightlife in a vain attempt to achieve zero-COVID, a Japanese bartender who is forced out of work and questions the future for his career and his family, a high-profile journalist who tries to stay true to his mission and a mainland Chinese migrant who’s found career success in Hong Kong who is confronted with little recognition from her family back home.
"If you love cinema, you should watch this. I am very proud of the work of our new director of photography, Andersen Xia. It’s truly stunning visually. And the editing by Jean Hu took me by surprise. Jean has worked on my previous documentaries including One Way, but I think Year of Ren Yin, being a more static story, gave her a much bigger opportunity to show her skills and creativity," she adds.
"And I think if you are interested in authentic human experience, you should watch this. With our profiles, I really pressed them to dissect the decisions they made, to reflect and explain.
"It’s not something most of us would do with ourselves. It’s uncomfortable. But I think in watching others going through the process, we would all learn something about ourselves too."
