About the director:

Enno Ladwig was born in 1978 in Hamburg, Germany. From 1990 until 1993 he lived in Beijing. He later moved to London where he studied „Communication and Audio-Visual Production” before moving to Sweden, where he studied the Master degree „Communication for Development“ at Malmö University.

Enno Ladwig has been involved in a number of film projects in both fiction and documentaries. He now lives in Stockholm and works as an editor for award-winning Swedish documentary filmmaker Folke Rydén.

„Cycle of Change“ is Ennos final university project at Malmö University.

--- more info: www.enno.net

Why did I do my project work on Beijing?

Beijing's life used to be very concentrated on the streets. Early mornings before going to work people gathered in parks to celebrate early sports and dances. On markets cabbages, tomatoes and watermelons were sold directly off the trucks right next to barbers that cut customers' hair in the open. People lived in densely populated quarters that consisted of one storied houses with their little courtyards (sihiyuan) and narrow allies (hutong) in which especially the older generation often sat playing cards and chess or cultivated flowers and raised birds. Known to many as the kingdom of the bicycles, Chinas uncountable numbers of black bicycles and transportation rickshas would sometimes cause "bicycle jams" or even accidents between bicycles. Donkeys and horses were also frequently seen pulling goods through the streets.

I experienced this kind of Beijing when I was there for my very first time in January 1988. Soon after, my father was sent out to work for a German/Chinese joint-venture in Beijing so that my mother, my brother and I had the chance to follow. That way I lived in Beijing from 1990 until 1993. During these three and a half years I have seen the city change and evelop. I have always kept a close eye on the developments of China, even after my return to Germany in 1993. I also took every opportunity to return to Beijing and tried to keep track of the many changes. Coming back to China today, it is difficult to recognise the city. Now China1 and especially Beijing has an increasing number of cars and traffic jams. Adapting its traffic system, numerous of Beijing's huge cycle paths had to give way to bigger roads and more cars. Simultaneously, several completely new roads and four new underground lines are being build and countless state-of-the-art architecture projects, like Olympic stadiums, higher and higher skyscrapers or the new CCTV-headquarters building are under way. Shopping centres with Nike and Levi´s stores rise in place of Beijing's traditional Hutongs, corner shops are increasingly being replaced by 7 Eleven outlets; McDonalds as well as Starbucks compete with Chinese restaurants and tea houses. Ever more high-tech markets, car vendors and language schools are proof of the cities aspirations of being an integral part in today‘s modern and international world.

In only 15 years the city had changed to an extend that even surprised many experts. Today it is however widely recognised that China will become the major player on the world economy around the year 2020. While we now seem to be aware of the ongoing changes, it took some time to understand what was actually happening. Still, for many people around the world imaginations about Beijing mainly consist of images of the old Beijing. But that Beijing may soon be gone.