Synopsis

In November 1993, Tian Feng, a first class composer from the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, arrived in Yunnan, and opened the Yunnan Minority Nationalities Institute of Traditional Culture. Tian Feng proposed the prinicple of “seek authenticity and prohibit adaptations”. He wishes to start from this concept to save the music and dance culture with “classical characteristics” (his words) from the destructive forces of recent economic trends. The Institute has always been financially strapped. As the difficulties and financial problems mounted,the institute staff have gradually deserted the Institute. In May of 2000, the Yunnan Minority Nationality Institute of Culture was disbanded. This documentary film is a story of ups and downs, devotions and frustrations, tears and laughters, and tells the contradictions between ideal and reality, individual and society.