Changing World; China: The 700 Million

Item Information

Title:
Changing World; China: The 700 Million
Description:
In the first authentic television documentary by a North American crew since the October, 1949, revolution, Changing World: The 700 Million penetrates the bamboo curtain for a first-hand report of the changes that have occurred in Red China in which her people have emerged from social apathy to intense nationalistic and personal pride. During two months of shooting, a three-man crew of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation traveled 9,000 miles throughout Red China's cities, villages, palaces, mud huts, factories and farms, to capture various and contrasting impressions of what life is like for the Red Chinese who have been under Community rule for the past seventeen years. In an objective attempt to lower the barriers surrounding the isolated nation, Changing World: The 700 Million sheds light on the life of factory workers and commune farmers. The program also covers the jam-packed May Day celebrations in Peking, the bustle of the Canton trade fair, the People's food market, and an enormous banquet for five thousand workers addressed by Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai. Interspersed in the documentary are comments and interviews of Chinese officials, clergymen, western journalist, and observers. Accompanied by an official translator, the three-man crew of producer Patrick Watson, writer Roy Faibish, and cameraman Erik Durschmied, also gets, by happenstance, the opinions of a visiting Italian television correspondent and a man who introduces himself as Ho Sze-yuan, a mayor of Peking in the pre-revolutionary days. Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Chen Yi; Bishop K.N. Ting of the Nanking Union Theological Institute; George Hatem, an American doctor who has lived in Shanghai since before the revolution and French journalist Jacques Marcuse are among those who comment about the economic, social, agricultural, and governmental policies in the oriental country. Throughout the documentary and particularly in the interviews the overall impression and consensus emerges that the revolution, in effect, was and is liberation for the Chinese. The program also reveals that, in spite of tight state control, freedom for the Chinese is in the security they are now realizing and the idea of personal liberty is strictly a western notion. A typical young Chinese farm worker and his family are visited at the Kao K'an Commune, one of 24,000 communes established by the government to increase food productions. The communes, and the 10,000 state farms, are an attempt to cope with China's land shortage. Only ten percent of the land is arable and about eighty percent of the Chinese live off the land. Although rice and wheat production has doubled since 1949, the program illustrates that agricultural mechanization has not developed fast enough to take care of the needs of the people. Even though there is a larger variety of vegetables and meat is now more plentiful, food continues to be produced by primitive methods. A nation that is capable of making its own nuclear weapons, China?s advanced industrialized developments are seen in northern centers near Shenyang, where trucks are manufactured; at cotton and textile plants, and in expanded constructions of apartments for workers. The documentary depicts the control of government in cultural and recreational activities. On weekends, hundreds of workers and their families travel to state-dictated events and holidays. In a Chinese play, youth is encouraged to retaliate against ancient traditions and authority. In the schools, children are being taught songs and slogans that propagate service to the state. Television programs, shown primarily in large workers' halls, usually glorify the revolution. On the spiritual level, western-style Christianity in Red China does exist but is restricted in its efforts to grow. The Christian Church may not solicit new members. And though the constitution provides for "freedom of religion," Sunday Schools and missions have been practically abolished. In a segment covering worship services in an interdenominational church, the program also presents the views of Bishop Ting and two other clergymen. They agree that while Communism and Christianity are irreconcilable, the Church is free and autonomous. Dr. Hatem, who has lived in Red China since 1930, assesses the medical skills and achievements of the Chinese. He observes that as a parent, he is satisfied with the training children receive in the schools. "They receive good physical training, they like their fellow man, they are taught independence, and learn how to work with their hands," he says. Journalist Marcuse notes that government control of mass media is a stringent because it doesn't want its "plans or intentions known." There are "no leaks- not one world," he adds. Red China's foreign minister Chen Yi, in prepared militant anti-United States statements, charges the U.S with carrying on aggression and intimidation throughout the world. He says that while there are serious differences between his country and Russia. "We and Russia will unite." This program is 90 minutes and was originally shot on videotape. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) Changing World consists of 13 hour-long episodes produced in 1964-1966 by various producers, which were originally shot on film and videotape. To give American television viewers a clearer understanding of how the rapid and radical changes now underway in other lands will influence their own lives, National Educational Television launched an incisive bi-monthly series of one-hour documentaries filmed around the globe. Entitled "Changing World," the series premiered in October 1964 on NET's nationwide network of 82 affiliated non-commercial stations. "We believe the scope and design of this series should place it among the season's most important ventures in public affairs television," said William Kobin, director of public affairs programs at NET. "Changing World" will look at the peaceful and not so peaceful revolutions of the mid-twentieth century from the vantage point of the people most deeply and painfully involved in transition. In a systematic way, it will attempt to relate the problems of the various nations and continents to one another, and to the lives of all of us in the United States. "In 'Changing World,'"says Mr. Kobin, "NET has deliberately turned away form a shotgun approach where we would examine only headline-making events. Instead, our producers and their units will be developing, in each instance an organized approach which will afford not only a solid introduction to other peoples and their problems, but a reliable basis on which viewers can judge United States policy, involvement and goals on other continents." (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Author:
Faibish, Roy
Producer:
Watson, Patrick, 1929-
Creator:
Durschmied, Erik
Interviewee:
Hatem, George
Interviewee:
Sze-yuan, Ho
Interviewee:
Marcuse, Jacques
Interviewee:
Ting, K. N.
Interviewee:
Yi, Chen
Date:
January 11, 1965
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Documentary
Location:
Library of Congress
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Library of Congress > Changing World
Subjects:
Economics
Social Issues
Global Affairs
Local Communities
Public Affairs
Religion
Extent:
01:29:29
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-gb1xd0rs58
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 3