Still from the movie Last Train Home by Lixin Fan (2009).

Last Sunday, OK Do went to see Last Train Home, a movie by the Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan (2009) at DocPoint documentary film festival in Helsinki. The movie was about the largest mass migration known to mankind: 130 million Chinese people setting out for their holidays on the eve of Chinese New Year.

Last Train Home documents a migrant couple caught up in this desperate annual migration seeking to get to their children in a rural village they left behind to seek work in the booming coastal city of Guangzhou. Moreover, it is an exploration on China, a country discarding traditional ways as it hurtles towards modernity and global economic dominance.

This year, the Chinese New Year is celebrated on February 13. In Helsinki, the main event is organised at Lasipalatsi Square by the cities of Helsinki and Beijing.