The Shadow Lands Yonder is a collaborative research-based work by Hong Kong artist Lee Kai-Chung and Japanese artist Isaji Yugo. The project centers in Manchuria in the early twentieth century, a time of massive population displacement driven by war colonisation as the Qing empire collapsed and a new nation was still in the making. The agricultural emigrates became an alternative instrument of colonial policy, developing a new world, making ‘home’ in a foreign land with fertile black soil, abandoning their origins and rediscovering their identity. The emigrates were trapped in a cycle of ‘longing – developing – leaving – stagnation – repatriation – being rejected’, their lives drained in the shadow lands, while they had belonged to neither Manchuria nor homeland that they longed for. 

Based on historical records and memoirs, Lee reconstructs a seven-day time period with video and creative writing, re-enacting the psychological changes and conflicts of the refugees during the long journey of escape and repatriation, thus exploring the complex process of identity ‘transition’ under the sudden change of politics. Through a participatory approach to filming, Lee draws on the subjectivity and creativity of the local participants to bring to life the sense of emptiness inherent in a multi-layered historical and collective consciousness, where the confusion about identity intertwines between past and the present. 

Language: Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles
Region: Hong Kong
Genre: Essay Film, Experimental
Year: 2022
Runtime: 40 minutes