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TO TASTE 100 HERBS

Year: 1984

Classification: G

Runtime: 58 min

Produced In: China

Directed By: Carma Hinton, Richard Gordon

Produced By: Carma Hinton, Richard Gordon

Language: Mandarin dialogue, English subtitles

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Dr Shen Fasheng discusses his Catholic religion, medical ethics, rural health services, centuries-old knowledge of herbal treatments and Western medical practices. The warmth, closeness and traditions of family life in China are wonderfully captured in scenes of prayer, play, chores and celebrations.


TO TASTE 100 HERBS is the third part of a three part series [Part 1: ALL UNDER HEAVEN; Part 2: SMALL HAPPINESS]. The three films are extraordinary portraits of contemporary Chinese life. Carma Hinton is uniquely qualified as an observer of China. She is the daughter of William Hinton, whose detailed first-hand descriptions of Long Bow Village's experiences of revolution since 1947 in the books FANSHEN [1966] and SHENFAN [1983] are well-known. Carma Hinton was born in Peking in 1949 and spent the first 21 years of her life in China. As a young student during the Cultural Revolution, she travelled the countryside and worked in villages like so many young Chinese of her generation. She had visited Long Bow many times before the six months of filming in 1983 that went into the making of the LONG BOW TRILOGY.