A Purpose Built School 毛坦厂的日与夜

Please join us for a screening of the 2015 documentary A Purpose Built School  毛坦厂的日与夜by filmmaker Jia Ding 贾丁, followed by a discussion with the director and scholars from USC and Beijing Normal University. This program is jointly sponsored by the USC U.S.-China Institute and East Asian Library with Beijing Normal University.

Maotanchang High School, a.k.a. "The Gaokao高考 Factory," is located in a small town in China's Anhui Province. It's a "cram school" with military-style discipline, where high school students train round the clock for the national college entrance exam.

Maotanchang employs only male teachers, whose jobs and bonuses are dependent on their students' test scores. They monitor students' study time with CCTV and raid dormitories at random. This film offers a rare glimpse inside the walls of one of the world's most intense educational institutions.

The film is in Mandarin and Anhui dialects with English subtitles and runs 95 minutes.