To the Western world, China conjures images of iron-fisted rule that has little regard for the rights of the little folk, the masses of ordinary citizens. But the Sundance Film Festival documentary "The Chinese Mayor" may just soften those tough images as it reveals the true score in running a typical city in China with a 1.5 million population.

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The film was shot in the coal-polluted city of Datong in Shanxi province where workers mined the fuel reserves for more than six decades.  Opening shots of the place show a blanket of soot and smog, which the city mayor plans to fix with an ambitious plan.

The mayor, Geng Yanbo, lost no time trying to turn the city's reliance on pollution-causing coal into a healthier green economy driven by tourism.  He just may succeed, as the city was China's capital 1,600 years ago so it is littered with cultural relics, according to the film's producer Zhao Qi.

Zhao said the mayor earnestly believes the city could switch to a cleaner economy and his solution was to bank on its culture.

Geng was bent on restoring his city's old glory and attract more tourists, but it meant destroying thousands of homes in the tourist sites and coughing up millions, if not billions, of yuan to finance the project.

As a first step into turning his dream into reality, the mayor started restoring the thousand-year-old city wall. Before the wall's construction, families whose homes were built on the wall's way had to be moved somewhere else.

The mayor had to hear angry citizens, take part in endless meetings and keep construction going - all captured on film by the movie creators. Zhao said Geng allowed him to get closer when filming, possibly because the mayor thinks it's well to promote transparency so the public knows what he is doing.

The movie producers said beyond the stereotype of a government always bearing down on people, there are complications in China that are not simply black or white and good or bad. There is a different China than the one portrayed in mass media, the creators added.

With the unraveling of stereotypes, say the filmmakers, follows a chance for deeper understanding. According to a producer, the movie was made to help both its makers and a foreign audience better understand China's way of governance.

This year's Sundance Film Festival listed "The Chinese Mayor" as a participant in the World Documentary Competition. The film was screened Saturday, January 31, at Sundance's Holiday Village Cinema 2. 

Tagssundance film festival, The Chinese Mayor, Zhao Qi, World Documentary Competition