These kinds of observations of the city and the style of shooting, also appear in Jiang Zhi's documentary film "The moments" (2000-2003). The author hand-carries a DV cinecamera, as a way of keeping a diary. He sees interesting things and records them just as they happen in life, without editing the scenes. Together this collection of scenes form an essential record of urban life, a slice of life of Shenzhen. They give a momentary impression of workers that live near the factory district in Shenzhen. Located at the southern coastal area of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen is a Special Economic Zone and important industrial base in China, with a population of 0.8 million.
One of the many scenes shows a group of people gathered around a television set by the side of the street. They stand around and laugh while watching the film. These civilian workers are affected by this film, produced in Hong Kong. Life in another part of Shenzhen; someone makes excessive money by giving a performance; "Madonna, edition of China". The performance incites lust in civilian workers, provoked by the sexy corselet of the performer and a pornographic talk show. Jiang Zhi has written down the fashion of life on ground floor not paying much attention to the major media in these images; he documents the change to another kind of life in a borderless era of consumerism.
All the time, the triangular manufacturing industry of pearl and processing industry have offered numerous employment opportunities for cheap labour in the wide hinterland of China. Large quantities of peasants from townships come to Shenzhen to work as temporary labourers. They work in the factories, while living away from home in the dormitories and hiring out the room. Life is dry as dust.
