Portrait of a Beijinger 北京人的肖像 Raise the Red Flag 红旗高高挂

Luo Wenyou turned his back on a promising career in the civil service in 1978 to pursue his passion for cars. In the following decades he ran several successful businesses, investing huge sums of money to buy more than 200 rare vehicles today displayed at his personal museum in the northeast outskirts of Beijing. For many Chinese visitors to the museum, the most popular cars are the Hongqi sedans once owned by China’s most famous (and infamous) politicians. Luo explains the unique story behind each vehicle, including Mao Zedong’s 10-meter limousine, and the reasons Hongqi is the automotive embodiment of national pride. Cinematography by Abel Blanco (a_blanco_z@hotmail.com), interviews and subtitles by Tom Fearon (thomas.fearon@qq.com).