'Ma'Lin' is the Chinese corruption of Maring, the pseudonym with which Hendricus Sneevliet (1883-1942) made his first trip across China. Sneevliet had been dispatched by the Komintern, for which Lenin had invited him on account of his communist activism in the Netherlands East-Indies, which had previously resulted in deportation by the Dutch authorities. Director Seegers reconstructs Sneevliet's remarkable and little known role in the early days of the Chinese Communist Party, incorporating archive footage and quotes from messages from Sneevliet and from the government, who carefully followed the activities of the 'propagandist'. The documentary team retraces Sneevliet's itinerary (1921-1923) in modern-day China, meanwhile asking Chinese experts the question what Sneevliet would have thought of the present situation. In a museum in Shanghai, a wax figure of Sneevliet still listens to a young Mao Zedong, but outside the billboards, theme parks and neon lights flare.
