Editing Not One Less (section)

=== Cannes withdrawal ===
{{Quote box | quote=I cannot accept that when it comes to Chinese films, the West seems for a long time to have had just the one 'political' reading: if it's not "against the government" then it's "for the government". The naïveté and lack of perspective [lit. "one-sidedness"] of using so simple a concept to judge a film is obvious. With respect to the works of directors from America, France and Italy for example, I doubt you have the same point of view. | source=—Zhang Yimou (20 April 1999). ''Beijing Youth Daily''.  | align=right | width=30% | bgcolor=#FFFFE0  | salign=right}}
Neither ''Not One Less'' nor Zhang's other 1999 film ''[[The Road Home (1999 film)|The Road Home]]'' was selected for the 1999 Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection, the most prestigious competition in the festival, where several of Zhang's earlier films had won awards.<ref name="Lu2005-126">{{Harvnb|Lu|2005|p=126}}.</ref><ref name="Da47">{{Harvnb|Da|2000|p=47}}.</ref> The rationale is uncertain; Shelly Kraicer and Zhang Xiaoling claim that Cannes officials viewed the ''Not One Less''{{'}} happy ending, with the main characters' conflicts resolved by the generosity of city dwellers and higher-up officials, as pro-China propaganda,<ref name="Kraicer84">{{Harvnb|Kraicer|2001|p=84}}.</ref><ref name="Zhang131">{{Harvnb|Zhang|2001|p=131}}.</ref> while Zhu Ying claims that the officials saw it and ''The Road Home'' as too ''anti''-government.<ref name="Zhu122">{{Harvnb|Zhu|2003|p=122}}.</ref> Rather than have his films shown in a less competitive portion of the festival, Zhang withdrew them both in protest, stating that the movies were apolitical.<ref name="Kraicer84" /><ref name="Zhang131" /><ref name="Zhu122" /> In an open letter published in the ''[[Beijing Youth Daily]]'', Zhang accused the festival of being motivated by other than artistic concerns, and criticized the Western perception that all Chinese films must be either "pro-government" or "anti-government", referring to it as a "discrimination against Chinese films".<ref>The original Chinese text of the letter is available at {{cite web | url=http://news.sina.com.cn/living/9904/042004.html | title=张艺谋郑重声明退出戛纳电影节 (Zhang Yimou solemnly declares his withdrawal from Cannes Film Festival) | publisher=[[Sina.com]] | date=20 April 1999 | access-date=10 September 2009}}<br />An English translation is available in {{Harvtxt|Zhu|2003|p=140}}.</ref>