Spilled Water

SPILLED WATER explores how the economic transformation of China is changing the roles, rights, and social status of its women. Wanting to connect with her 'distant sisters', decades after emigrating to the United States, May May returns to China and explores the very different lives of four women: a rural farmer who, against all odds, became a teacher; a successful lawyer in a male-dominated profession; a divorced factory worker struggling to brighten her daughter's future; and an ethnic minority singer torn between her dreams, and her responsibilities as a peasant's wife. From the urban hustle of Beijing to the desolate beauty of rural provinces, their intimate stories show us why gender equality in China is so rare, hard-earned, and worth the struggle.