Please Vote For Me

Director Weijun Chen did a great job in this documentary. The film was about the democracy experiment in a third grade class of one primary school in WuHan, China. I don't know the reasons for Chen to pick WuHan for this documentary. I was told by Chinese friends, WuHan is a relatively conservative city comparing to Bejing or Shanghai. This documentary has quite a few interesting aspects. First, the film truly recorded this democracy experiment did not educate kids about the value of democracy, but was about the process to win the voting. Second, the kids' voting soon became parent's battle. I was amazed to see those tricks that parents taught to their kids. For example, one kid's mother told her kid to boo his competitors after their speeches. Third, debate became personal attacks. I was shocked to see class teacher let these personal attacks go on as normal. The scene seemed like a mini version of culture revolution happened to those kids. At last, bribe. One kids' father is supervisor of police department. He treated the entire class for a city trip. He also prepared gifts for the entire class just before the voting. The film helped me understand today's China better. And, the film was also very entertaining.

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME is a short but compelling documentary that looks at a "first-of-its-kind" democratic election at the Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China. The class of eight-year old pupils is given the opportunity to vote for one of three teacher-chosen candidates. Two boys and one girl are selected, including current class monitor Luo Lei ("the dictator"), the confident Cheng Cheng ("the manager") and the shy Xu Xiafei ("the gentle one"). There are debates, speeches, even a talent show to help the voters decide. Along the way, there are smear campaigns and backroom dealings galore. The children's parents get heavily involved and we see that Luo and Cheng have some built-in advantages. Cheng's mom is a TV producer who seems well equipped to help her son with his stump speeches. Luo's dad is the police chief who can finagle free class trips on the town's state-of-the-art monorail to benefit his candidate. Meanwhile, Xu is frequently reduced to tears and has only her divorced mom to guide her. Despite mom's sound advice, Xu seems to be a longshot candidate (unless, of course, she can corner the female vote). All of the parents become speechwriters and campaign advisers for their kids. And each of the candidates has two "assistants" he or she can use to take the pulse of the electorate. At the center of it all, the class teacher is a beaming and beatific presence who seems delighted to be given the chance to bring this experiment in democracy into her classroom. Come election day, two candidates, their assistants and their most fervent supporters will, of course, be disappointed. But that's democracy. If you have an hour to spare, you'll be investing it well with PLEASE VOTE FOR ME. You'll be surprised to see how quickly three 8-year-old Communists can learn all the tricks and chicanery we are used to seeing play out within America's supposedly sophisticated political system.

I came across this film on netflix and watched it on my computer for the first time. I lived in China teaching English for a year so the film caught my attention. I was absolutely captivated. It's an interesting insight into Chinese education. But also, we see the result of the one child policy - a nation of "little emperors." I had to have this film to share with my students here in America. I only wish it were longer than an hour.