Courtesy of Channel Four Television

British Chinese filmmaker Rosa Fong directed this series of four three-minute films for Channel Four. The short films filled the post-7pm news slot and were commissioned to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Each focused on one of four major Chinese philosophies, Taoism, Feng Shui, Confucianism and Cosmic Chi.

The series offers the audience a humourous, accessible and offbeat introduction to the Chinese philosophies. They reflect an assimilation of traditional Chinese values and principles into today's British culture, creating a hybrid, westernized Chinese philosophy.

Chinese for Beginners benefits from entertaining, well-written scripts and strong performances. The first episode, 'Taoism', subverts the stereotype of the hardworking Chinese, as two idle men use Taoist principles to argue for the value of lazy people as balance to more hardworking ones in society.

Fong successfully merges education and entertainment in each film. It will be interesting to see whether Chinese For Beginners leads the way to similar programming without the need for an easy peg, like Chinese New Year, to hang it on.

Ling-Wan Pak

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