Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks
Traditional Chinese鐵西區
Simplified Chinese铁西区
Literal meaningdistrict west of the railroad
Hanyu PinyinTiěxī Qū
Directed byWang Bing
Produced byWang Bing
Zhu Zhu
CinematographyWang Bing
Edited byWang Bing
Adam Kerdy
Release date
  • 2002 (2002)
Running time
551 min.
CountryChina
LanguageNortheastern Mandarin

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (Mandarin: [tʰjè ɕí tɕʰý] t'yeh-shee-chuh, 铁西区, Tiě xī qū) is a 2002 Chinese documentary film by Wang Bing. Over nine hours long, the film consists of three parts: "Rust," "Remnants" and "Rails."

Tie Xi Qu was filmed over the course of two years between 1999 and 2001[1] and details the slow decline of Shenyang's industrial Tiexi district. This area was once a vibrant example of China's socialist economy. With the rise of the free market and the move towards other industries, however, the factories of Tiexi have all begun to be closed down, with them much of the district's worker-based infrastructure and social constructs.

Although Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks is rarely screened due to its length, many critics have named it one of the best and most important films of the 2000s.

  1. ^ CATSOULIS, Jeannette (2007-04-18). "West of the Tracks". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-24.