Watch the documentary The Chinese Mayor (2015, 86 mins.), followed by discussion with Hao Zhou, the film's director, and Lan Deng, professor and chair of the Urban and Regional Planning Program in the U-M Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Light refreshments provided.

Once the thriving capital of Imperial China, the city of Datong is now among the country’s most polluted cities, burdened by aging infrastructure and uncertain economic prospects. Mayor Geng Yanbo announces an ambitious plan to restore Datong to the cultural center it was 1,600 years ago. The plan comes at a devastating cost: thousands of homes will be demolished, and half a million residents — 30 percent of Datong’s population — will be relocated. The Chinese Mayor offers remarkable access to a leader, and to a country, moving urgently toward an increasingly unstable future. It also allows audiences to draw their own conclusions about the promises and costs of the mayor’s project, while raising questions that continue to echo today.

The CHOP (China Ongoing Perspectives) film series is sponsored by the U-M Library (Asia Library) and the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies.