The Fundamental Divide

Not One Less is a brilliant feature film by the Chinese Director Zhang Yimou set in a remote school in rurual china.

The 13 Year old substitute “Teacher” (Wei) of Shuiquan Primary School, where the most precious property is a box of chalk. Wei can’t remember any more than two lines of the only song that she knows and has to get the class to assist her in doing simple math for a bus fare.

Her instructions are clear. Keep the children in the class until a little before sun set, write down one lesson each day on the blackboard and make the children copy. And make sure that no one drops out. And make sure that the box of 30 chalks lasts for the entire month.

Despite Wei’s attempts to resist, one girl is taken away to a Sports School in the city. Days later another boy is missing, she learns that he has gone to the city to work.

Wei decides to go to the city to bring the boy back. The first estimates of the bus fare for the round trip was 9 Yuan which is not there...

A brilliant movie that triggered ideas that there is a fundamental divide that requires greater debate than the debate on digital divide.

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