Documentary Description
t isn’t easy, running China, with its 1.3 billion people and 56
officially recognized ethnic nationalities. It’s a vast mix of
languages, living standards, beliefs and customs. Run it successfully,
and you have a prosperous, innovative, powerful empire to rival any the
world has seen. Make mistakes, and the chaos will be vast and terrible.
China is run by the Communist Party, which bases its legitimacy on
delivering both stability and the conditions for prosperity. But
stability is under threat as economic boom strands millions at the
margin. Meanwhile rampant corruption is sapping people’s trust in the
Party. Officials are increasingly seen not as public servants but as
profiteers.
This episode films patrols along China’s border with Kazakhstan,
Party meetings, officials in Tibet trying to impose authority at the
grass-roots, a village election, and a corrupt embezzler in prison,
reprieved from a death sentence. Chinese people throughout, from farmer
to Minister, speak frankly about the problems the country faces and the
ways forward.
The Party attracts eager young recruits and is trying to
re-invigorate its older members. They visit sites of communist
achievement, like the Red Flag Canal, hoping to be inspired by the
revolutionary zeal of the past. “If all Communist officials today were
like those who built this,” one Party member exclaims, “the Communist
Party would rule forever.”
|
a "harmonious society" cannot exist based on illusion, nor could it ever be real. this is a lose-lose ideology.