Ai Xiaoming


Ai Xiaoming is a Chinese documentary filmmaker and political activist. She is also a scholar of women's and public issues, and former professor at Sun Yat-sen University. Ai was born in Wuhan in 1953, and has spent most of her adult life in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Ai Xiaoming and Guo Jianmei won the 2010 Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom.

Scholarship and activism

In 1985, Ai became a professor at Beijing Normal University. From 1994 to 2014, she taught at Sun Yat-sen University, focusing on literature and women's studies. In her early career, Ai was an accomplished writer and translator, writing several books on literature and translating the works of Milan Kundera, as well as editing others.
In 2000, she visited America as a researcher on Women and Gender studies. In 2009, she was prevented from attending a Chinese Documentary Film Festival in Hong Kong, due to concerns about her personal safety resulting from her political film-making activities.
Ai has criticised the Chinese government's national policy of compulsory IUDs for women who have already given birth to a child. She has said that many women, herself included, had never been advised of potential complications and the requirement for regular checkups.
in 2013, Ai protested topless outside a Hainan school in response to the rape of six students by the school's principal and a local official. She was jailed the same day for defending herself with a kitchen knife against attackers who came to her home. She stated that her nude protest was inspired by Ai Weiwei
Ai's films are banned in China.

Filmography

Since 2004, she has made more than two dozen films, including documentaries about citizen activism, social problems, and corruption. Some of her films aim to uncover whitewashed historical events.
YearTitleLengthDescription
2004The White Ribbon 57 minutes
2005Garden of Paradise 140 minutesA documentary about the changes taking place in China between 2003 and 2005 in terms of respect and protection of human rights. Ai co-directed with Hu Jie.
2005The Village Taishi 100 minutesRecounts the struggle of the villagers of Taishi against local authorities in 2005.
2006The Epic of the Great Plains 140 minutesA documentary film about the fate of villagers infected with HIV who, because of their poverty, had sold their blood. The courage they have shown in this situation is contrasted with official corruption.
2006Sexuality, Gender, and Rights in Asia 46 minutes
2007The House of Care and Love 108 minutesA documentary on people infected with HIV after receiving a blood transfusion. It focuses on the case of Liu Xiaohong, a villager from Xingtai in Hebei, who was contaminated during childhood. Ai co-directed with Hu Jie.
2008The Train that Leads to My House 59 minutesA documentary descriging the plight of migrants, following the disruption of rail traffic on the Beijing-Guangzhou line, after winter weather.
2009Our Children 73 minutesOne of three documentaries about the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and its impact on the population, especially in the scandal of corruption in school construction.
2009A Citizen Survey 64 minutesOne of three documentaries about the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and its impact on the population, especially in the scandal of corruption in school construction.
2010Why are Flowers so Red One of three documentaries about the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and its impact on the population, especially in the scandal of corruption in school construction.
2011Postcard A film about Chinese civil rights activist Wang Lihong.
2012Wukan Three Days
2014New Citizen's Trial ''