China is a country where modernization and pre-modernization co-exist. The news media constantly boasts of the country’s strong defense power and economic prowess, evidenced by its huge foreign exchange reserve, while the periphery suffers under rapid modernization. Shu, nicknamed ‘Mr. Tree’, is a village welder from northeastern Jilin. He’s lost his job due to an industrial accident and now makes a living in the provincial capital Changchun, where one of his friends runs a school. He works as a janitor. Shu’s family has a grotesque history. His father and older brother passed away but continue to dominate his existence, haunting his life. Just as Shu is trapped by their deaths, China itself is trapped by old values and ancient traditions. Viewed from a different perspective, the identity of China is quickly approaching a crisis point stemming from Western-styled modernization. Without overemphasizing any single element, [Mr. Tree] depicts a lingering disharmony between Chinese tradition and modernism through the schizophrenia of a man. (MUN Gwangyu)