“Time is going on like this river, flowing away endlessly day and night.”

“Stand here, just stand
and become one with the twilight spitting blood
take back the stained-black sun for me
as patient as death is this stone
spellbound, suddenly you know the sky is already far-off
at the last moment the stars pull out, until
the night is cast off and I fall silent

All the years are hijacked in an instant
you arrange the movements of the constellations and stars on my face
a silent sneer, as if sustaining a whipping
Endure this stretch of sky, smoother than the human body
more frigid than metal, only I
heard the ticking as dawn was breaking
a matchless moment of joy, a cold mood
as if harboring doubts about the air, one time it was dew
once it was night; up until I brush the evening aside
until I fall silent

Stand here, just stand
facing this cold, detached stone
and suddenly, at this instant, I experience painfully
its unknown divine nature
and during another dark night
indifferently, I become its counterfeit”

Film · Born in China’s Shanxi province, Sixth Generation director Jia Zhangke brings his country’s lesser-seen history into cinema with themes of alienation and globalization, and by turning the lens to those in the marginalized throes of society. Our film, Ash is Purest White, evokes the rhythm of Chinese life—the passing of time as the river flows, and the sometimes violent inevitability of a flame turning to ash.

Painting I · In these large-scale paintings by Jia’s good friend Liu Xiaodong, bustling interiors and abject humanmade landscapes offer glimpses into ordinary histories and uncertain futures.

Words · In Chinese culture, rivers symbolize the passage of time, as captured by this quote from Confucius.

Painting II · Echoes of landscape paintings from The Five Dynasties period to the Song period can be found in both Liu’s and Jia’s work. These works by Fan Kuan, Guo Xi, Dong Yuan, and Juran feature landscapes as subjects, featuring sacred mountains and holy streams as an extension of Confucianism.

Words · This poem, An Instant [瞬间] from Zhai Yongming’s ‘Woman’ cycle, is an expression of feminine subconscious and perspective not dissimilar from our protagonist in Ash is Purest White. Zhai is recognized as one of china’s first notable female poets and has been a collaborator of Jia’s.

Music · A Pure Person by Lim Giong—who has composed the music for many of Jia’s films—muses over whether purity and happiness do exist.