Summary: Part one of the series China: Through Mao's Eyes describes Mao Zedong's youth, his formative adulthood, and his consolidation of power. Archival photographs from Mao's childhood and education, film clips from his campaigns against foreign invaders and Chinese nationalists, and lavish, government-produced reconstructions of the Long March detail the drama of those decades. Film excerpts...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Part two of the series China: Through Mao's Eyes explores the formation of the People's Republic of China, its complicated relationship with the Soviet Union, and events that prefaced the Cultural Revolution. Footage documenting the turmoil of the Anti-Rightist movement, China's role in the Korean War, and the misnamed Great Leap Forward reveals Mao's uneven leadership as the young nation...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Part three of the series China: Through Mao's Eyes examines the origins of the Cultural Revolution, Mao's orchestration of it, the political and economic shockwaves it created, and its human cost. Rarely seen archival footage of young Red Guard operatives raiding and ransacking a home-combined with present-day interviews featuring former Red Guards and their victims-create an in-depth portrayal...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Part four of the series China: Through Mao's Eyes details the watershed Nixon-Mao diplomacy, Mao's death and its aftermath, and the legacy of his rule and philosophy. Scenes showing an aged and infirm Mao meeting with foreign emissaries and CPC assemblies reveal his determination to shape policy and preserve his imposing image as long as possible. Today's citizens who look back nostalgically on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program enters the world of Beijing opera through the traditional art of mask-making-and through the eyes of 76-year-old Xiang Qi Shang, a celebrated mask maker who has devoted his life to preserving a custom that may yet be lost in China's rush to modernization. Master Xiang demonstrates his remarkable brushwork as he comments on a range of topics, including the use of facial expression...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: When learning any language-especially one as different from English as Chinese is-it's always good to start with the basics. From "Hello" and "Goodbye" to "Happy holiday!" and the best ways to identify one's self by name, this program introduces beginning Chinese speakers to practical vocabulary and phrasing techniques. Cultural topics include: how Chinese children learn to speak and write...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: Shot entirely on location in and around Beijing, this program follows a group of Chinese schoolchildren through their daily lives as it demonstrates the meanings and usages of numerous Mandarin words, phrases, and expressions. Viewers accompany the children as they move about Beijing, take a trip to the Great Wall of China, and relax at home. Additional lessons focus on a family meal, a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Whether collecting trinkets at the local market or negotiating the purchase of a traditional Chinese-style painting in a specialized gallery, the beginning speaker needs to know the right words and phrases when shopping in China. This program helps equip the Western visitor with the language skills necessary for pleasant and effective consumer transactions with Chinese proprietors. Cultural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: As China continues to experiment with Western-style economics, many city dwellers already enjoy the prerogatives of a market economy. But how will China feed itself as more and more farmers flee their land for the allure of urban living? This program seeks to understand the effects of economic reform on Chinese society, from the villages to the cities. Will cultural values and the traditional...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Will the 21st century be the Chinese century? Economics correspondent Paul Solman examines the rise of China as a global economic power—and the challenges that lie before it—in this timely collection of NewsHour reports. The episodes are…* China’s Growing Economy: This segment spotlights the freewheeling Chinese economy—and its growing pains. * The Chinese Consumer: This segment seeks to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: China may be the world's next superpower, but its wild economic growth doesn't tell the whole story. This program reveals the widening gap between Chinese urban and rural lifestyles and the escalating pressure for government action to increase educational and career opportunities in remote areas. Interviews with city dwellers whose affluence surprises even them-and with villagers struggling for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Although they may not look exactly like their counterparts in China, North America's Chinese Buddhist temples are closely linked to them through symbolism and traditions that go back more than 1,500 years. This video looks at structural symmetry, north/south building orientation, and interior layout; architectural elements like pagodas, columns, and courtyards; the lotus flower as a design...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: From fledgling cottage industries to the Shanghai stock market, China represents a unique blend of communism and capitalism. This program studies that phenomenon by examining how the Chinese themselves are adapting to the quasi-free market system. Chinese economic modernization is studied at a shoe factory, where communist worker ideals and capitalist goals coexist. In the largest migration in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Perennially popular in China, paper-cutting is treasured for its ability to transform ordinary paper into intricately patterned, brilliantly colored works of art. This program, filmed in Hubei Province, charts the evolution of Chinese paper-cutting from traditional cutouts representing luck and health to modern visual art as it illustrates the designing, cutting, and coloring processes. Tsuwoo...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China came into being following the victory of Mao Tse-tung's forces over the Kuomintang, which fled to the island of Taiwan. Thus the Communists completed a revolution begun by the idealistic Sun Yat-sen in the early 1920s. This program documents how Sun's idealism came under Bolshevik guidance; the roles of the young Chiang Kai-shek and Mao; the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program focuses on the Land Formations and Flying Stars Schools of classical feng shui, demonstrating the ancient Chinese geomantic practice of living harmoniously with the environment as it is applied in Hong Kong and elsewhere. World-renowned teacher Grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai and several feng shui consultants provide a detailed overview of Taoism, chi, yin and yang, the five symbolic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In China, where approximately 80 percent of the population is rural, the impact of democratic village elections could reshape the future of the nation. Although some Chinese are skeptical, many believe that establishing democracy at the local level will pave the way for a democratic national government. This program focuses on the efforts of The Carter Center to support China's initiative by...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Born into a prominent family in China, Soong Mei-ling was nonetheless thoroughly Western in thought and philosophy, having studied in America-one of the first Chinese women to do so. After marrying Chiang Kai-shek, the couple led a China embroiled in years of war and political intrigue. During World War II, she became the first Chinese national ever to address a joint session of the U.S....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: It took seven years for Wang Runqing to get his diploma from the Conservatory of the Beijing National Opera. Descended from a family of actors, he had no illusions about the hardships that awaited him. This program follows his rigorous training in a variety of the arts besides singing and acting. His story is all the more interesting because it took place while traditional opera-which had been...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A night out in Beijing-whether it's an ordinary, relaxing evening or the high point of holiday festivities-is certain to involve a lot of conversation. This program helps beginning Chinese speakers with the right phrases and vocabulary for buying tickets, finding out what time an event starts, discussing favorite pastimes, and much more. Cultural topics include: the booming nightlife of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: After the Chinese Nationalist Government fled to Taiwan, Soong Mei-ling remained in the public eye as the distant and mysterious "Madame Chiang." She continued the role she had played during her years in mainland China, remaining prominent in foreign affairs and devoted to her work with women and charitable causes. This program examines the second half of Madame Chiang's life: her...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: China is vast, and so are its cities. What's more, Chinese roads, highways, and urban patterns are quickly evolving-so, now more than ever, the Western visitor must be able to ask for directions clearly and politely. Listening closely and effectively to the answers is just as important. This program presents vocabulary and phrasing that will help beginning Chinese speakers find out how to get...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: Whether they were crafted to spread Mao's message of class struggle or spun from the fabric of everyday life, Chinese folk songs carry with them immense historical and cultural importance. This program examines a wide range of songs and melodies from the country's pre-Communist era to the Cultural Revolution, energized by a rich progression of archival footage, photographs, interviews, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: It seems like the most basic task in the world, but when you're a Westerner in the middle of Beijing or Shanghai, ordering a meal takes on unforeseen challenges. This program demonstrates Chinese vocabulary and phrases used to identify and ask for food in a restaurant. It also shows food being ordered from a noodle stand, presents ways to talk about food preferences, and shows how to pay the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004