Spark was first and foremost an underground publication.

After the Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957(反右运动), a group of students and faculty from Lanzhou University—labeled as “Rightists”—were sent to the rural areas of Tianshui in Gansu Province for re-education through labor(劳动改造). There, they witnessed firsthand the absurdities of the Great Leap Forward(大跃进) and the devastating scenes of mass starvation during the ensuing famine.

These experiences led several of them—including Zhang Chunyuan(张春元), Gu Yan(顾雁), Lin Zhao(林昭), and Xiang Chengjian(向成鉴)—to create an underground publication called Spark (星火).

In its only published issue, they documented exaggerated propaganda, extreme poverty, and famine in the countryside. They also offered a deep theoretical critique of the People’s Commune system(人民公社制度), calling for democratic socialism(民主社会主义) and denouncing the power of political oligarchies(政治寡头). Spark remains the only known independent intellectual publication produced during the Great Famine(大饥荒) of the early 1960s in China.

However, the publication was short-lived. While preparing its second issue, the group was betrayed. Its editors, the sympathetic farmers who helped them, and even Du Yinghua(杜映华)—the deputy party secretary of Wushan County—were all arrested. Lin Zhao was executed in 1968. Zhang Chunyuan and Du Yinghua were executed in 1970. Others received heavy prison sentences. For decades, this episode remained a deliberately erased chapter in modern Chinese history—largely unknown to the public except through the scarce memories of a few surviving witnesses.

Chinese independent filmmaker Hu Jie spent over six years investigating and documenting this history, producing the documentary of the same name, Spark. Known for his commitment to unveiling China’s hidden histories, Hu reconstructs the lives and struggles of these dissidents through rare archival materials and in-depth interviews with survivors.

On June 17, 2025, the Blaues Haus Stiftung, in collaboration with the Berlin Contemporary China Network, will host a public screening of Spark at Humboldt University. We invite all those interested to join us for this event.

The event is free of charge, but registration via Eventbrite is required. Registration via this link.

Event Details

• Date: June 17, 2025 (Tuesday)
• Time: 18:00–20:00
• Location:
  Institute for Asian and African Studies
  Humboldt University of Berlin
  Invalidenstr. 118, 10115 Berlin
  Room 315, Third Floor
  📍 Entrance through the courtyard from either Invalidenstraße or Schlegelstraße (searchable on Google Maps).

Film Info

• Title: Spark
• Director: Hu Jie
• Completed: 2013 (Released in 2019)
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Language: Mandarin Chinese (with English subtitles)
• Country: China
• Genre: Documentary

About the Director

Hu Jie, born in 1958, is one of China’s most important independent documentary filmmakers. He is best known for his uncompromising work documenting the buried histories of modern China, particularly the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. His films include Though I Am Gone, Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul, and Spark, etc. His work is widely studied and screened internationally, though largely inaccessible within China.