"The Bonds of Promised Land", a documentary feature on the history of the Chinese in Jamaica will have a premiere screening at the Carib Cineplex in Kingston on January 26.
The film examines the
factors which led the British to begin importing Chinese labourers into
the country in the mid-1850s, and the societal impact their presence has
had over the succeeding 160 years.
Executive
producer-director Fritzroy Smith, said his main interest was to look at
how the Chinese had managed to transform their fortunes and become the
dominant commercial and entrepreneurial force they are today. "I
believer there are lessons for all of us in this story, and I'm grateful
yo those Chinese interests here that supported us in the making of this
documentary."
The production, shot in Guangdong
(Canton), China as well as across Jamaica features interviews with a
wide-cross section of Chinese-Jamaicans and others, commenting on their
dual nature, as well as on the efforts to preserve and highlight their
historical culture even with the inevitable and ongoing process of
assimilation into the broader Jamaicsn fabric.
It
also looks at the latter-day arrivals of Chinese, via the huge
infrastructure projects undertaken in the country, and how their outlook
differs from that of the original indentures, who were almost
exclusively of the nomadic Hakka tribe.
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