According to legend, the Miao people’s mythical King Chiyou was defeated by the Yellow Emperor, who as the crypto-historical Huangdi, supposedly established Han supremacy throughout China.
Even if you had not heard it before, you will hear it many times throughout this documentary. The unspoken message to the Miao is clear: They are a conquered people. They will also be an exploited people when a local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official turns a 100-year-old local A-Hmao-speaking Christian choir into a novelty act in New York-based Chinese filmmaker Chen Dongnan’s documentary “Singing in the Wilderness.”
Scene from “Singing in the Wilderness.” (Thessaloniki Film Festival)
For years, the Miao people in the southern Yunnan village of Little Well have eked out a hardscrabble subsistence living as farmers. Their main solace comes when they raise their voices to celebrate God during Christian services.
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