The Daily Life of Braulio Lin*1

Photo by Alex Zou

Film is not a replacement of real life. Sometimes it is more meaningful to encounter stories in person instead of behind the lens. –Braulio Lin

One of my favorite parts about working in the film industry is that I get to travel and meet people who live very different lives from mine. This October, I encountered an interesting cow herder while I was working on documentary in south Henan in China. His name was Fang Chen, a short and skinny man in his mid-forties. His healthy diet and active lifestyle made him look ten years younger than his actual age. "I used to be a bright student at school," he told us, "Every day after class I would come up to the mountains to watch the cows. They have always fascinated me." A brown cow walked near us and started grazing on a rich patch of grass. The tinkling of its bell accompanied Mr. Chen's high pitched voice.  "Once, I broke my leg and had to walk with crutches, yet I would still make my way up here to be with the cows. My brothers would try to stop me, but I would come anyway." Mr. Chen's passion for cow herding dominated every second of the half-hour interview we shot with him. When our interviewer asked him if there had been any happy events recently, Mr. Chen told him, "Are you talking about the cows or me?" I started wondering if this man really had anything in his mind besides cows. Perhaps his family and friends were sick and tired of listening to him talking about cows all his life. Perhaps he had found in us an audience that would finally be interested in listening to him talk about his vocation.

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