Harper Screening, Discussion Focus on China's Cultural Revolution

Growing up during China's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, Jian Ping witnessed her family's fall from status with the Communist regime, enduring public humiliation, eviction, extreme poverty and prison before immigrating to America. N

ow a Chicago resident and successful businesswoman, Ping will share her story at Harper College's free screening of “Mulberry Child,” the documentary adaption of her family's journey.

A winner at the 2012 Nashville Film Festival, Hartland Film Festival and Madrid International Film Festival, the movie tracks a grown Ping's return to China with her daughter while tracing her family's persecution and survival during the Cultural Revolution, juxtaposing her Chinese and American identities.

A question-and-answer session with Ping and her daughter will follow the screening.

“I think many families can identify with the themes of the film, and I believe it can open up conversations about family roots,” says Professor Richard Johnson, Coordinator of International Studies and Programs.

The screening and discussion are at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 in Room E106, Building E on Harper's main campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine.

The event is offered as part of Harper's expanding International Studies Program, which this year oversaw study abroad opportunities for 45 Harper students – from a semester program in Ping's native China to new, shorter faculty-led trips to a host of countries including Greece and Ecuador.

“There is a new demand for global education, and more of our students are thinking globally,” Johnson says. “Our study abroad experiences, and events like the Mulberry Child screening, help further that trend.”

For more information, visit http://dept.harpercollege.edu/international.