Running around one hour in length, “Xiao Shan Going Home” was made by Jia while he was attending the Beijing Film Academy and stars his friend, classmate, and now frequent collaborator, Wang Hongwei in the title role. The movie screened at the 1997 Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards, where it won the Grand Prix. This put Jia in touch with the European-trained cinematographer Yu Lik-wai (who has become one of Jia’s most important collaborators), and producer Li Kit Ming. The three men then began work on Jia’s feature film debut, “Xiao Wu”, which was completed in 1997. The film is also notable for its use of non-Mandarin dialects, including in the very first instance, where the audience is treated to the sound of Jia’s native Shanxi dialect. This is in contrast to most Chinese films that had, for the most part, followed government regulations to be dubbed into Standard Chinese.