Discovery Atlas: China Revealed
by Cassian Harrison
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DVD details
Actor: James SpaderDirector: Cassian Harrison
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-12-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Discovery Channel
DVD Reviews of Discovery Atlas: China Revealed
DVD Review: "This is the story of the greatest transformation on earth; and of the people living at its heart"
Summary: 5 Stars
The title of my review is one of the first lines of this film and it sets the tone for an exploration of contrasts and growths within a nation incomparable in the world. The "Discovery Atlas" series are celebrations of nations and cultures. As a celebration, the series is more hopeful than critical. The (brief) stories of each nation are interwoven with the individual people the documentary crew follows. Another documentary was produced recently by Discovery Times called China Rises - The Oldest Civilization on Earth, Reborn (4 Episodes on 2 DVDs), it is available on DVD now and is almost twice as long, but the production value is much lower (an example would be the difference in soundtracks: This Atlas edition of China has a soaring, busy, and at times, ancient, musical score while the "China Rises" documentary pales in comparison).
What follows in this review are statistics and quotations taken directly from the film (I wrote them down while watching and pausing the video).....
It is now predicted that the Chinese economy will be the largest in the world in little more than 20 years. China has 1/5 of the world's population and now consumes almost 1/3 of the world's steel and almost 1/2 of its concrete. In any single minute the Chinese nation now burns almost 2,500 thousands pounds of coal, 24,000,000 watts of electricity and 200,010 gallons of crude oil. It has been estimated that in 30 years we will need another planet earth to satisfy China's ever growing appetite for raw materials. But for all this explosion of industry, China still rests on traditions that are thousands of years old, like the patty fields on terraces in Long Shen. One terrace worker said, "We get up at 6...we don't come back home until 8 or 8:30." These terraces are known as the "Dragon's Back." For all of its vast area, less than 10% of China can be farmed. One worker remembers the terrible famine of 1959. Until 1978, the Communist Party directly controlled all of China's land, but then the announced an extraordinary change in policy: hand the land over to the peasants to run themselves. The average peasant income rocketed by more than 15,000 %.
The Communist Party has announced to businesses in the city, "To get rich is glorious." 10s of millions have abandoned farming life for city dwelling. Already 8-times the size of New York City, Shanghi is expanding every day: investors are pouring more than 10,000,000 dollars a year into the city.
China covers over 3½ million miles of land and there are over 50 different peoples. The people of Inner Mongolia still hold on to their traditions. China is a nation so diverse, its people speak 7 different languages and over 80 dialects. There is just one bond between them all: the Chinese calligraphy. Kung Fu (Wushu) is a Chinese contribution to the Martial Arts.
The most populace nation on earth, China has 1.3 billion people nearly double the population of all of Europe and America combined. Every minute another 34 Chinese children are born, every year the population grows another 7 years. In 1979 they instituted a one-child-policy; this policy has recently been relaxed but nothing without an entire generation of only-child families.
In one of Beijing's largest restaurants, 100 chefs cook the evening meal.
In 1966, Mao stood on the balcony of the Forbidden City and declared the Cultural Revolution. Beijing's bow makers were a target of Mao's desire to destroy many of the traditions of China. After 2 decades, the bow makers are back at their craft.
The Great Wall of China is a testament to the power of old China. 600 years ago the Ming Dynasty decided to close off the northern boarder of China: 4,000 miles. A million laborers were put to work; they build a wall wide enough for 5 horses to ride alongside each other on the wall. With 1,000 garrison towers over 100,000 troops. Now, China is building again with similar ambitions. There are more construction projects going on in China then in anywhere else in the world. There is a new middle class in China. 12 million new faces join China's job market every year. Drugs are problem for modern China, heroine especially. There are over 750,000 Chinese on enforced government detox programs. Overall, it is estimated that there are between 7 and 10 million addicts: a 10 fold increase in just 5 years. One taxi driver is shown on the documentary to be in possession of drugs, he was smuggling them across a boarder; he later faced the death penalty for drug smuggling.
Description of Discovery Atlas: China Revealed
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