Eight or Nine in the Morning (1973)

The film explores the dramatic changes in Chinese education during and after the Cultural Revolution. Schools and colleges were closed for over two years due to intense debates on the direction of education, culminating in a preference for a working-class, non-elitist model. This shift aimed to integrate manual labor and intellectual work, emphasizing collective over individual achievement. The film depicts various educational settings, from kindergartens teaching self-reliance and pride in manual work to universities where students receive free education and must work in factories or fields before enrollment. The narrative highlights ongoing experiments in education, the focus on practical and technical skills, and the integration of theory with practice. Despite the challenges and unanswered questions, the Chinese are committed to continuous revolutionizing to build a new society and a new kind of individual. We digitized and uploaded this film from the Prelinger Archive. Email us at footage@avgeeks.com if you have questions about the footage and are interested in using it in your project.