The protagonist of this documentary is my father: Chong Ren He, born in 1937, in Li Jiang, a small town close to the border of Tibet. He is a descendent of the Naxi, one of the fifty-six Chinese minorities which has a population of 300, 000. What makes the Naxi unique is their ancient Dongba culture preserved through the millenary pictographic writing. This particular pictogram is the only living one in use today and is called the “living fossil”.

Besieged by the constant political upheavals and the assimilation of the dominant Chinese modern culture, my father lives today in his village like on an isolated island surrounded by the endless waves of tourists. This film will explore how can an individual of 80 years of age build his own spiritual castle to
protect himself and his frail yet precious culture.