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Bang the Drum

In the remote ethnic Yao village of Huaili, deep in southwest China, large bronze drums are alive. They produce a sound that speaks to the heavens, opening the path for the souls of deceased villagers to reach the ancestral land. Beyond the funeral, bronze drums are valued by the Yao for their anthropomorphic role as a protector of the household. When the Chinese government steps in to protect this sacred heritage, the life of the bronze drum takes a new turn. Huaili and the ethnic culture of the Yao fall under the tourist gaze and the bronze drum transforms into an icon for tourist performances. The Yao are forced to navigate the pressures of the government and the tourist market to uphold an unbroken tradition. Bang the Drum traces the path heritage takes in a changing China.

  • William Nitzky
    Director
  • Brian Brazeal
    Producer
    Impact of the Frolic, A Walk Through Time, A Man Called Ishi, We Are the Land, When the Smoke Clears, Illusions in Stone
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Drums
  • Runtime:
    28 minutes
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - CSU, Chico
Director Biography - William Nitzky

As an anthropologist and museum professional, Will Nitzky has spent the last two decades studying the interplay of ethnic relations, tourism development, and heritage management among rural communities in southwest China. In addition to leading the curation of two museum exhibits, he also produced the PBS aired documentary Stories in Thread.

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Director Statement

Through an anthropological lens, heritage is seen to be very dynamic, deeply connected to people, place, and time. Understanding heritage to be present-centered, I have come to ask: What does heritage mean to individuals, communities and even nations?; Whose heritage are we speaking of?; How does meaning and expression of cultural heritage change over time?

In 2008, I began a research project with the Baiku Yao (locally called the Dounuo), who live deep in the karst mountains of southwest Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Over the summers, I heard the sound of their bronze drums echoing across the mountains, calling villagers to honor deceased elders during elaborate funeral ceremonies. Over the years working in the village of Huaili, villagers and shamans explained to me that bronze drum was not merely an instrument, but a living spirit that communicated with the heavens to open the path to the ancestral land for the deceased soul to travel to. Over the course of my fieldwork, I witnessed changes to bronze drum culture in how it was identified as heritage worth preserving and protecting by scholars and the Chinese government and as a cultural symbol of the Baiku Yao that could be exploited as an asset of tourism development. In 2016, Tanner Hansen (cinematographer and editor) and I ventured to China, traveling from Beijing to Guangxi, to capture the multiple perspectives of Chinese officials, scholars, drum manufacturers and sellers, and village residents on the changing life of the bronze drum. Documenting different claims over bronze drum heritage, we found that the bronze drum symbolizes how the Baiku Yao people are negotiating their place in a rapidly changing China. The film Bang the Drum speaks not only to the heritage of the Baiku Yao of China, but, moreover, to how cultural heritage shapes our lives.