China Rising

A series of three two part programs that detail the history of China during a number of tumultuous stages in its history. The first program explores the period in Chinese history between the 1920s through to the 1940s, seen through the eyes of the people living in Shanghai, as the country moved from the colonial rule of the English and Japanese and the disjointed rule of the warlords to a unification movement led by the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek and subsequent attempts by the Japanese to regain control. The second two part program covers the history of Communist China from the mid 1930s to the 1960s, where the chinese Communists retreated following defeat by the Nationalists in the walk later known as the Long March, only to regroup and counter attack in the form of the Peoples Liberation Army to drive the Nationalists out of power and to exile in Taiwan. Part three of the series covers the period of Mao’s Cultural Revolution and the subsequent changes which inspired the student democracy movement of the late 1980’s through discussion of the revolution’s impact on families and the classes and the economic reforms of the 1980s following the revolutions decline. This comphrehensive documentary uses rare archival footage and interviews with the chinese people of the time and engages with the impact this constantly revolutionary period of Chinese history had on their lives. Each program in the series includes Teachers notes.