Beijing jiao qu = Beijing suburb

Beijing Suburb, originally shot in 16mm, is a semi-documentary fiction film in which the protagonists--residents of an artist community in suburban Beijing--play themselves. The situations recreated by the filmmaker draw a picture of the marginalization of independent artists in China: exploitation by foreign collectors or a new class of capitalist profiteers; persecution by corrupt police who close down exhibitions, arrest performance artists, and torture them in jail while accepting money or sexual favors to release them.