"China" - BBC Two's new 4-part documentary

KYli said:

You have already decide to hold a negative views of China and try to make China as a threat and bully as much as possible.

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Oh stop being such a drama queen - lighten up a bit. :coffee:

EDIT: Sorry, sumdud.

Well we just had episode two :coffee:

This is a series that bills itself as: "China is changing, It is on the verge of becoming the worlds next Superpower, its growth has been described as as Phenomenal if not extraordinary"......etc etc. All in all I think sombody who watched this trailer (repeated endlessly for weeks) might be forgiven for thinking this was about the modern China.

Guess what! 50 minutes in Rural Anhui, Tibet and Xinjiang ..... again!!!! Most of it spent examining the problems of tradition affecting rural womens lives. Yeah OK, but we knew all this already, these are the old problems that new China is trying to leave behind. On top of that Mrs S thought that quite a few of the translations were decidely dodgy.

Oh but we did have 10 minutes with ordinary factory workers in Guangdong and that was quite interesting.

But once again the fascinating subject of Urban life in the cities of the undeveloped interior, was totally ignored. Maybe next week then.

SampanViking said:

All in all I think sombody who watched this trailer (repeated endlessly for weeks) might be forgiven for thinking this was about the modern China.

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Everyone knows what "modern" China is about. They don't understand much about places other than Shanghai - if they know anything at all.

Guess what! 50 minutes in Rural Anhui, Tibet and Xinjiang ..... again!!!! Most of it spent examining the problems of tradition affecting rural womens lives.

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Well that's surprising giving that a majority of Chinese people still live in the countryside. But you're also rather forgetting that part of it was actually about migrant workers, which is rather appropriate given that they're a large section of the population with one foot in the countryside and one in the cities.

But once again the fascinating subject of Urban life in the cities of the undeveloped interior, was totally ignored. Maybe next week then.

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As I said last week, so much has already been said about urban China in the past. It's actually interesting to see something about rural areas. Next week it should be fairly necessary to talk about urban areas - it's about the environment. So hopefully they'll balance it out nicely.

This one was quite interesting. I especially enjoyed seeing some more of Anhui for certain reasons.

Well that was an interesting third episode, though I must admit I've read so much about the Chinese environment it's not so surprising.

I really liked the old professor that kept getting chased by these propaganda officials while on a research trip, especially the way he dismissed what one of them was saying. Also the environmental lawyer - it's good to see Chinese people that are passionate about the environment.

Yes far more interesting, and highly revealing. Just goes to show what can be done about pollution, when the local Govt is on the case.

I was fascinated by the Wuhan treatment project and will try to keep an eye out for future progress.

Otherwise, the 3 gorges and the Water Diversion Projects, which are all pet favourites of mine, so I was quite happy. I enjoyed the tantilizing glimpses of the "new cities" to.

It was also interesting to see the planting and irrigation projects in Ningxia. Overall we enjoyed this one.

Dude, what on earth are you going on about? How is any of that related to the documentary, which you couldn't have seen in the first place?

Well I must admit, that I would have been very interested if the kind of everyday issues Red Mercury discusses had found their way into the BBC series. In fact these are the kind of things I was hoping to learn about. I think it highlights how Aunty can be somewhat self indulgent in regard to some of the topic areas she chooses.

Never mind Red, you are more than welcome to come over to Chinese Economy Today, and talk about them to your hearts content, I would even be interested to learn the cost of Ladies shoes where you live

Technically the post is off topic, in terms of it does not relate to the actual BBC programme, but it is still dealing in the same general area so hardly a hanging offence.

Even so Off Topic is Off Topic so please stick to the Series for the duration of the thread.

SampanViking said:

Technically the post is off topic, in terms of it does not relate to the actual BBC programme, but it is still dealing in the same general area so hardly a hanging offence.

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Sampan, the post was completely random. The author obviously did not see the programme, so how could he condemn it? Why would the BBC, in a four-part series, randomly talk about things in the Chinese news? Obviously they wouldn't. To be honest I wasn't surprised you said that. When roger spat bile about the BBC you didn't do anything either.

This is being broadcast for an uninformed audience. As much as we all would love it if they cut out the stuff we knew already, they can't do that. How would you feel if there was a subject you were interested in on TV and then found it was talking completely above your head because it was too advanced for you? You would think your license fee was not being spent properly, wouldn't you?

Sampan you are essentially complaining because the BBC is not catering to exactly what you want. The BBC never caters exactly to what everyone wants, so really you can't complain.

Well As a Licence payer I am entitled to complain about whatever I want from a service provider:roll:

But seriously, I think you miss the point. This has never been about absolute right or wrong, it is about generating a range of opinions and seeing which ones predominate. Sadly as the programme was broadcast in Britain, but the majority of forum members are in North America, very few can actually contribute to the discussion based on actual viewing. That would leave You, Me and Dongfeng, .

I wish the series had been more widely broadcast, but that is unlikely any time soon.