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Content

Chinese Cities

Chinese Cities


CULTURAL HERITAGE - ANCIENT CAPITAL 3: SONG DYNASTY IN INHERITANCE

The city of Kaifeng in Henan province is located at the centre of the cradle of Chinese civilisation and has more than 2,700 years of history. According to Chinese history, seven dynasties established their capitals here. In particular, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the capital of Kaifeng had a population of over one million and was the kingdom's economic, political and cultural hub of its time. With descendants calling it "a city whose affluence and beauty are unmatched by any other", it is currently one of the world's leading cities.

Historically, Kaifeng has been flooded numerous times by the Yellow River. Each time after the city was buried in loess, the following dynasty would build a new one on the original site, giving Kaifeng its unique wonder "The Stacked Cities". At present, a total of six cities are buried beneath Kaifeng, namely Daliang City founded by the State of Wei during the Warring States Period, Bianzhou City of the Tang Dynasty, Dongjing City of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianjing City of the Jin Dynasty, and Kaifeng City of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Archaeologists have discovered that ever since the Tang Dynasty, the overall layout of each capital was roughly the same, resulting in the "gate stacked upon gate" and "road stacked upon road" phenomena.

Although these ancient capitals are buried underground, the wisdom and traditional culture of their inhabitants seeped into modern life long ago. Wang Suhua is the inheritor of Bian embroidery, an intangible cultural heritage of China. The craft became renowned throughout China as early as the Song Dynasty and is amongst one of the five famous styles of Chinese embroidery. Wang has dedicated a lifetime of effort to embroidery, collecting needlework items in different places, studying their craftsmanship, and passing on what she has learned to her apprentices, so that the legacy can be continued. Yin Guoquan is the fifth-generation owner of an old New Year Paintings (Nian Hua) shop in Kaifeng's Zhuxian Town who has devoted his life to the creation of festive images on woodblocks. His grandson, Yin Engan, has already mastered the craft's techniques passed down from his grandfather and become the seventh-generation successor despite being only 21 years old. Apart from New Year Paintings, the most important thing to Engan is his two daughters. He has one silent wish - that his daughters will take up his mantle in the future and enable the craft to flourish.

The Yellow River gave birth to the Chinese people, yet its own relentless waters obliterated Kaifeng on more than one occasion. The archaeological wonder of "The Stacked Cities" stands as testament to the civilisation's undying tenacity. Today, even though the affluent Dongjing City of the Northern Song Dynasty is no longer in sight, the wisdom and traditional culture it has left behind continue to live on quietly through the residents of Kaifeng.

DVD / 2016 / 25 minutes

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CHINA ON FOUR WHEELS EPISODE 1

Driving onwards

Intrepid journalists Justin Rowlatt and Anita Rani take to the road through China, taking two very different routes that highlight the complex nature of this fascinating country.

Anita travels through the rich industrialised cities of eastern China, the land of self-made billionaires with fleets of super cars; of booming manufacturing plants and luxury holiday destinations. Justin's route takes him inland to a more rural China, where several million people still live in caves and donkeys are the most common means of transport.

As they navigate their way through congested cities and winding mountain roads, Justin and Anita explore whether the country's economic growth - typified by its massive car industry - can be sustained. What impact will that have on the day-to-day lives of the Chinese people and on the rest of the world?

Note: This BBC production not available in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan, USA, Canada.

DVD / 2015 / 50 minutes

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CHINA ON FOUR WHEELS EPISODE 2

Driving onwards

Intrepid journalists Justin Rowlatt and Anita Rani take to the road through China, taking two very different routes that highlight the complex nature of this fascinating country.

Anita travels through the rich industrialised cities of eastern China, the land of self-made billionaires with fleets of super cars; of booming manufacturing plants and luxury holiday destinations. Justin's route takes him inland to a more rural China, where several million people still live in caves and donkeys are the most common means of transport.

As they navigate their way through congested cities and winding mountain roads, Justin and Anita explore whether the country's economic growth - typified by its massive car industry - can be sustained. What impact will that have on the day-to-day lives of the Chinese people and on the rest of the world?

Note: This BBC production not available in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan, USA, Canada.

DVD / 2015 / 50 minutes

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CHINESE MAYOR, THE

Directed by Zhou Hao

Once the thriving capital of Imperial China, the city of Datong now lies in near ruins. Not only is it the most polluted city in the country, it is also crippled by decrepit infrastructure and even shakier economic prospects. But Mayor Geng Tanbo plans to change all that, announcing a bold, new plan to return Datong to its former glory, the cultural haven it was some 1,600 years ago. Such declarations, however, come at a devastatingly high cost. Thousands of homes are to be bulldozed, and a half-million of its residents (30 percent of Datong's total population) will be relocated under his watch. Whether he succeeds depends entirely on his ability to calm swarms of furious workers and an increasingly perturbed ruling elite. The Chinese Mayor captures, with remarkable access, a man and, by extension, a country leaping frantically into an increasingly unstable future.

DVD / 2014 / 86 minutes

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FUTURE FOOD: STAY OR GO? (CHINA)

Directed by Alex Gabbay

Who will grow China's food as young people leave the countryside for the cities?

In many remote areas of China young people have little choice but to stay on the land, and yet they may face a destitute future, with millions of farmworkers in China earning less than two dollars a day. Although there are some exceptions, farming is not generally seen as a "sexy" career choice.

The reality is that in China and around the world, young people are fleeing the countryside and moving to the big cities. Who will grow the food that feeds future generations? How can young people be convinced that farming is a good option? Californian-born Rand and his wife Sherry are the founders of Resonance China, a social media agency in Shanghai. They use the internet to create and identify trends and tricks that can create a buzz for global brands. FUTURE FOOD sets Resonance a task: can they make farming popular with young people?

DVD / 2012 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 29 minutes

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PEOPLE'S PARK

Directed by Libbie D. Cohn and J.P Sniadecki

A mesmerizing, one-of-a-kind window into modern China, People's Park is an exhilarating single shot documentary that immerses viewers in an unbroken journey through a famous urban park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

People's Park was produced at Harvard's groundbreaking Sensory Ethnography Lab, which has been responsible for some of the most critically-acclaimed, envelope-pushing documentaries of recent years (including Sweetgrass, Leviathan, and the upcoming Manakamana)

The film explores the dozens of moods, rhythms, and pockets of performance coexisting in tight proximity within the park's prismatic social space, capturing waltzing couples, mighty sycamores, karaoke singers, and buzzing cicadas.

A sensory meditation on cinematic time and space, People's Park offers a fresh gaze at public interaction, leisure and self-expression in today's China.

DVD / 2012 / 78 minutes

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BEIJING BESIEGED BY WASTE (WEI CHENG LA JI)

Directed by WANG Jiuliang

Photographer Wang Jiu-liang travels to more than 500 landfills, fearlessly documenting Beijing's unholy cycle of consumption through poignant observational visits with the scavengers who live and work in the dumps.

While China's economic ascent commands global attention, less light has been shed upon the monumental problem of waste spawned by a burgeoning population, booming industry, and insatiable urban growth.

Award-winning photographer Wang Jiuliang focuses his lens upon the grim spectacle of waste, excrement, detritus, and rubble unceremoniously piled upon the land surrounding the China's Olympic city, capital, and megalopolis, Beijing.

Eking out a dangerous living within are the scavengers, mostly migrant workers from the countryside, who struggle to uphold familial and cultural systems amid their occupation's Dickensian bleakness.

Wang renders the decimation of once-essential rivers and farmlands in the backdrop of gleaming high-speed trains, stadiums, and skyscrapers; the sinister cyclical pattern of construction's consumption and garbage, and moving images of the daily lives of scavengers who labor at their own risk.

DVD (Color, Mandarin with English Subtitles) / 2011 / 72 minutes

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CITIES ON SPEED - SHANGHAI: SPACE

By Danish Radio

Shanghai is a unusual city, bursting with four thousand skyscrapers, thousands of miles of highway, millions of citizens, and thousands of government planners. To make way for new skyscrapers, roads, and industries, vast communities are being expropriated. Can government influence help control Shanghai's growing pains?

DVD / 2011 / 61 minutes

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CULTURAL HERITAGE - THE RAILROAD 03: THE WEST REGION

Some people say that only Xinjiang can help one understand how big China is. Xinjiang is in northwest China. It takes up one sixth of the country's land area. The region is ethnically diverse - it is the home to 47 races, including the Uyghur, the Han, the Tajik, the Kazak, the Hui, the Mongolian and the Manchu, but it is the Uyghur who dominate. The different cultures and customs of all these races have made Xinjiang an exotic place. The railway in Xinjiang can now run from Xinjiang west to Urumqi and finally to other cities in China. In this episode, we are going to make Urumqi our starting point and reach the westernmost city in China, Tashkurgan.

Tiffany Lee takes a 24 hour ride from Urumqi to the westernmost railway station in China, Kashi. Kashi was called Shule in the past. Its written history can be dated back to more than 2000 years ago. The city is located in southwest Xinjiang, standing as an important stop of the silk road. Apart from the culture and relics of the Uyghur, one can also see the local dance there, Dolan muqam, a primitive muqam style which has not been commercialised. Although this trip has covered only southwest Xinjiang, we have already met the Han, the Uyghur and the Tajik and have a grasp of the diversity of the region. One can imagine how vast the place is.

DVD / 2011 / 30 minutes

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CULTURAL HERITAGE - THE RAILROAD 10: IN LOVE WITH DUNHUANG

Dun" means "grandness" and "huang", "prosperity". This "grand and prosperous city" Dunhuang has a history of more than a thousand years. It is a major juncture on the Silk Road, facilitating the economic and cultural exchanges between the east and the west and the rise of the great Han Dynasty. Dunhuang's beauty is charming and fascinating. The Dunhuang Railway runs southwest from Liugou Station of the Lanxin Railway on the Gobi Desert, passing the "world's wind warehouse" Guazhou, where strong wind blows all year round, to Dunhuang. The line suffers from a lack of water and electricity supply. It can only depend on Guazhou and Dunhuang for such needs. Looking back, we could imagine that the adverse natural environment must have posed much difficulty for the construction project of the railway several years ago.

The Mogao Caves in Dunhuang are also known as the Caves of Thousand Buddhas. The discovery of the Caves is regarded as the most valuable cultural encounter in the 20th century. Considered as the "Louvre in the East", the Mogao Caves, first built in the Former Qin in the 4th century, are featured by delicate wall paintings and statues. The complex comprises 735 cells, wall paintings with a total area of 45,000 sq m and 2,415 coloured statues, standing as the world's largest and most profound collection of Buddhist fine art. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The noctilucent cup in Jiuquan, Gansu Province is a luxurious jade cup for wine. In this episode, we are going to visit Mr Huang Yuesu, the state-level successor of this intangible cultural heritage item. We shall also watch the Quzi opera in Dunhuang, which is a folk opera popular in five provinces and municipalities in the Northwest of China. The art originated from the popular music in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and took shape with additional local features in the late Qing. We will also visit the state-level successor of this intangible cultural heritage, Mr Xiao Dejin.

The Silk Road was once a principal path transmitting the cultures from the east to the west and vice versa. Despite that it has already slipped away from the course of history, it has left a lot of historical and cultural relics for us to explore. Although history passes, cultural heritage lasts.

DVD / 2011 / 30 minutes

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CHINA - YULONG

"The land south of the clouds" is a Chinese province that isn't really Chinese ! Along the foothills of Tibet, 22 ethnic minorities make up the Mountain People.

In the North-East of Yunnan, in the region around Lake Lugu, 80,000 people live in the heart of Mosuo territory. The Mosuos' family structure is unique anywhere in the world. Children live with their mothers, without their fathers. The family name and assets are handed down by the women, who control everything, from social conventions to the local economy.

DVD / 2010 / 43 minutes

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DESIGN CITIES: SHENZHEN

How young is Shenzhen? The average age of the workers in the creative industries is in the twenties. The government has been promoting "Building the City on Culture" for five years. It has been designated a City of Design by UNESCO for one year. What does youth have? Spontaneity and audacity, two qualities its young designers have plenty of. As an immigrant city, like Hong Kong in the early days, Shenzhen has attracted many creative young talents to take up roots there because they can see a future. The future is going international, making a name for oneself, becoming someone like Ou Ning, Hei Yi Yang, Bi Xue Feng, and many other top graphic designers in China. Urbanus, a Chinese architect firm, will be joined by Rem Koolhaas's OMA, a top international architect firm, in developing "Shenzhen Creative Center". Big projects and small ideas abound in this young vibrant city that is rearing to go.

DVD (Cantonese, With English Subtitles) / 2010 / 30 minutes

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I.M. PEI: BUILDING CHINA MODERN

Directed by Anne Makepeace

Architect I.M. Pei returns to his home city of Suzhou, China to build a modern museum that complements the architecture of the 2,500 year-old city and sets a course for modern Chinese architecture.

I.M. Pei has been called the most important living modern architect, defining the landscapes of some of the world's greatest cities. A monumental figure in his field and a laureate of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, Pei is the senior statesman of modernism and last surviving link to such great early architects as Le Corbusier, Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe.

Entering into the twilight of his career and well into his eighties when the project began, Pei returns to his ancestral home of Suzhou, China to work on his most personal project to date. He is commissioned to build a modern museum in the city's oldest neighborhood which is populated by classical structures from the Ming and Qing dynasties. For the architect who placed the pyramid at the Louvre, the test to integrate the new with the old is familiar but still difficult. The enormous task is to help advance China architecturally without compromising its heritage. In the end, what began as his greatest challenge and a labor of sentiment, says Pei, ultimately becomes "my biography."

DVD / 2010 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 53 minutes

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HAINAN - CHINA

The island of Hainan is an outgrowth of communist China in the South China Sea...

With 8 million inhabitants it's the smallest of the country's provinces and became the laboratory of China's initial capitalist experiments when Deng Xiaoping opened up the nation to reforms. In becoming a Special Economic Zone there are 2 sides to life on the island: a mix of a frenetic consumer society and millennia old traditions.

DVD / 2009 / 43 minutes

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CHINA PROFILE - THE NEW CHINA: SHANGHAI, SHANGHAI

This documentary offers a fresh and original look at Shangahi, China, a harbor city that is developing at such a fast and breathtaking pace it is surpassing its "rival," Hong Kong. Not dwelling on the causes of China's economic boom, this program underscores the transformations, contrasts and exuberance of Shanghai's renewed dynamism. Here we get a glimpse of the new China, as well as a reflection on the responsibilities of Western countries. In Shanghai today we discover the buzzword is "success" - success at any cost. We are introduced to several Shanghai residents, such as architects, writers and entrepreneurs, plus a number of ordinary people, and some "nouveau riche," those who crave luxury. Shanghai we see represents the splendors and miseries of global capitalism, where there is sadly no room for the well being of a so-called Western-like middle class; also we learn how middle classes in Western countries are experiencing progressive erosion as a result of China's giant economy, which is impervious to the fair redistribution of profit. Finally, we look at the advantages and drifts of a model of economic growth that is striving to export all over the world, with unperturbed optimism,in the name of "development."

DVD / 2008 / (Junior High, Senior High, College, Adult) / 50 minutes

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HONG KONG CONNECTION: SO CLOSE, SO DIFFERENT

Discusses the requirements if the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre's proposal to merge Hong Kong and Shenzhen into a world-class cosmopolitan city were to be adopted. Identifies the advantages of this proposal. Points out the differences including social, cultural, educational, medical and political between the two cities that need to be resolved. Also discusses the proposal to allow 2 million indigenous Shenzhen residents to freely cross the border to Hong Kong. Stresses the importance that both sides must remain open and receptive in order to realize such harmonious development jointly.

DVD / 2008 / 30 minutes

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MR. WONG'S WORLD: SAVING THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF SHANGHAI

Directed by Christian Schidlowski

Shanghai, the center of Chinese capitalism, has been undergoing an unprecedented building boom. Over 2,000 high-rise buildings have gone up since the 1990's. As a result, many historic treasures fall prey to the wrecking ball.

Mr. Wong is a wealthy businessman who returned to China from Canada. He has made it his mission to spend every penny he can on rescuing old houses, villas, and temples of old Shanghai that are no longer valued by the development-minded Chinese. Whenever Mr. Wong travels the streets of Shanghai, he keeps his eyes open, ready to buy any house worth preserving before the sledge hammering begins. Stone by stone his workers disassemble the old houses and bring them to a large property outside of Shanghai he bought expressly for the purpose of setting up a park for endangered buildings. He envisions a safe haven for lost traditions and ancient arts.

Most of his fellow Chinese are mystified. Town planners and investors see him as a threat to progress and an obstacle to their plans. This is both an intriguing and humane story of a most unusual man realizing his vision against all odds. It is an insightful portrait of the divided soul of modern China.

DVD / 2008 / 80 minutes

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PANASIA: JOURNEYS IN ASIAN CUISINE - CHINA: HONG KONG 1 - THE GATEWAY TO CHINA

Hong Kong is known as "the gateway to China"; it is made up of four areas: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon City, the New Territories, and almost 250 Outlying Islands. As Sian Richards shows us, it certainly is a modern city, but too is steeped in Chinese traditions. In the Mong Kok Market, Chef Geoff Havilland prepares pan-seared grouper with stuffed calamari for the evening meal, and Chef Ng shows how to make Dim Sum, which means "to touch the heart lightly." Sian visits Wong Tai Sin, a traditional Chinese Buddhist temple, with her guide Winnie, who explains that people come here to pray for good health and for happiness; also why it is known as the "fortune tellers'" temple. Next Professor Hu tells the story of why a certain Banyan tree is known as the "wishing tree." And because Hong Kong is known the world over for its many custom tailors and international design houses, Sian meets designer Joanne Tang, of Shanghai Tang, who helps her dress for the evening.

DVD / 2007 / (Junior High, Senior High, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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PANASIA: JOURNEYS IN ASIAN CUISINE - CHINA: HONG KONG 2 - THE CITY OF WATER

Hong Kong is an island city whose waterways are teeming with a unique waterside culture, unusual lifestyles and, of course, exotic seafood. Chugging along by sampan in Aberdeen harbor with photographer, Mr. Leung, host Sian Richards sees it's really a floating city all to itself, filled with barges, houseboats, ferries, and yachts; plus fishing boats headed into the South China Sea. After Chef Jackie Chan explains why grouper is such a popular fish for dining, Sian visits the Stanley Bay Marketplace, where she learns the art of negotiating Chinese-style. Next, at the largest floating restaurant in the world, Chef Lap explains, in Cantonese, how to prepare sauteed shrimp balls. Sian then takes a T'ai Chi class in Victoria Park with instructors William and Pandora Ng. The popular martial art, which dates back to the 15th century, conditions both body and mind and is often done outdoors. Next she meets Mr. Hung, who runs the Yuen Yuen Institute, where the art of bonsai is nurtured.

DVD / 2007 / (Junior High, Senior High, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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PANASIA: JOURNEYS IN ASIAN CUISINE - CHINA: MACAU - A BLEND OF CULTURES

Macau is one of Asia's smallest and most charming cities, nine square miles east of Hong Kong along the Pearl River Delta. A Portuguese settlement for over 400 years, here you find a little piece of Portugal in China. Chef Felix prepares the evening meal, Pork Minchi, following a Macanese recipe; then host Sian Richards explores the city, where people come to enjoy its elegant streets, wide-open squares, and historic buildings. She meets Chef Andrew, who makes delicious Lord Stowe's custard tarts daily (in Portugal they're called natas). She sees preparations being made for the annual Dragon Boat Festival; plus gets to experience Folklorico, where performers dress in traditional costumes as they dance the lively Farepeirra. The orchestra sings old folk songs in Portuguese, but the accent is Cantonese. Then she and Graham Blakey visit a traditional Chinese herbal medicine store, where there's a cure for every ill.

DVD / 2007 / (Junior High, Senior High, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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WENZHOU - CITY OF SHOES

The film provides deep insight into China's rapid social and economical changes.

The city of Wenzhou has become one of the most important platforms of capitalism and a model for the rapid change taking place in the country.

Nearly all eyeglasses, electric shavers, keys, locks and 80 percent of all pocket lighters that are made in China are produced here. But most of all, Wenzhou is the world capital of shoes. Every year, 1.5 billion pairs of shoes come from here and 400,000 people are employed in the local shoe industry. Western competitors learned to live in fear of Wenzhou's productivity a long time ago.

But why are the Chinese so successful? And what price do they have to pay? Who are the winners and who are the many losers in this capitalist game?

DVD / 2007 / 52 minutes

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LIJIANG, A CHINESE TOURIST CAPITAL

Last year Lijiang, the capital city of the Naxis, welcomed more than 3.5 million Chinese visitors. Here, one discovers how the Naxi culture became the most popular tourist attraction in the area. Will the impacts of tourism development gradually support or destroy their thousand-year-old culture?

Located in the Yunnan province of southwest China, Lijiang is the capital city of the Naxi ethnic minority. In 1995, a severe earthquake hit this jewel of traditional architecture. It was later rebuilt the way it looked like 700 years ago and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lijiang, the Venice of China, has become a world economic stake in tourism development. It is currently a major destination for first generation Chinese tourists with almost four million visitors in 2005.

Benefiting from paid leave, the newly rich of the big Chinese urban agglomerations are beginning to discover the charms of the city, experience Naxi folklore, souvenir shops and Dongba religious rites.

Hu hua is a young Dongba (meaning wise man). He has been hired by local administration to translate into Mandarin Chinese the sacred books that were confiscated during the Cultural Revolution.

He understands the meaning and the mysterious construction of the three thousand pictograms of the Naxi written language, the last pictographic writing system still used in the world.

Hu Hua has been invited together with the other Dongbas from Lijiang to the Jade Spring Park, a tourist amusement park based on Dongba religion.

To promote Dongba culture and local tourism, they will celebrate the traditional sky ceremony thus making the park director - a young and successful local company director - happy.

Lijiang is alive day and night. Chinese tourists dance with the old Naxi men in the marketplace, and then go to bars where everyone is encouraged to sing along with young women singers from the mountains. The Naxis come in droves to Chao?s first concert, the new pop star of the Naxi minority.

DVD / 2005 / 51 minutes

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CITY LIFE: THE LONG MARCH

Community in Chengdu, China has organized to clean-up polluted river.

China is already home to a fifth of the world's population. To relieve the pressure on scarce farm land and fragile topsoil, the Chinese government is building four hundred new cities over the next 20 years, each housing over half a million residents. New towns and settlements are springing up from nowhere. Others are witnessing an explosion in their populations, stretching their capacity to deliver essential services to breaking point. This film tells the story of one such town.

Chengdu, in South West China, was once the southern staging post for the silk trade and capital of Shu Kingdom. In 256 BC, Shu leader Li Bing built the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, channeling the Min River through Chengdu in what is still recognized as a triumph for hydraulic engineering. But the irrigation system was neglected and abused during the rapid industrial development of the 1970s, resulting in massive pollution and floods. Today, Chengdu's municipal government has succeeded in reversing the damage, turning what had become an urban nightmare into a model of modern day planning.

DVD (Color) / 2001 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 27 minutes

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CITIES IN CHINA: BEIJING

By Sue Yung Li

This acclaimed documentary conveys the texture and flavor of the venerable Chinese capital through a close-up look at a number of its inhabitants, both young and old, with varied and fascinating backgrounds. Their stories unfold against the backdrop of a timeless but rapidly changing metropolis.

The gold and vermilion roofs of the Forbidden Palace, recalling the splendor of the imperial past, still dominate the center of the city, but highrise apartment buildings are encroaching upon traditional single-story neighborhoods and are dramatically changing the skyline.

Highlights include a backstage tour of the Peking Opera, a family reunion of four generations previously dispersed to far-flung outposts, and an interview with the brother of China's last emperor.

DVD (Color) / 1981 / 58 minutes

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CITIES IN CHINA: SUZHOU

By Sue Yung Li

Known for centuries as the center of Chinese culture and aesthetics, this Yangzi delta city has often been called the "Venice of the East" because of its many canals and bridges. This beautifully filmed portrait of the city leads the viewer through markets and teahouses, sweet shops and bookstores, rice paddies and fish stalls, and two of Suzhou's exquisite gardens.

The film explores the process of silk cultivation, long a Suzhou specialty, and shows the preparation of a regional meal in a simple home kitchen. Two elegant young women sing in a garden, evoking the celebrated days of the literati gathering. An expressive storyteller recounts a traditional epic, enhancing his tale with the sound effect of drum rolls and charging horses.

DVD (Color) / 1981 / 28 minutes

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CITIES IN CHINA: XIAN

By Sue Yung Li

This wide-ranging documentary presents a cultural history of the ancient Chinese imperial city, once the greatest capital in the world and the Eastern terminus of the famed Silk Road.

Just outside the city lies one of the world's most spectacular archaeological sites, the burial tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, who unified the country and connected the Great Wall. The highlight of the film is its extensive and unique footage of his immense underground army vault, which is larger than a football field, and filled with a life-sized pottery army numbering some 6, 000 startlingly lifelike warriors, plus horses, chariots, and weapons.

Traveling to nearby areas, the film shows many smaller but also impressive sights. A demonstration of calligraphic stone-rubbing illustrates how picture, style, idea, and moral character come together in Chinese writing. Among several other important archaeological sites visited are the majestic tumulus of the Empress Wu, who boldly left her memorial slab blank so it could be filled in by future generations, and the tomb of her granddaughter, the Princess Yung-tai, with its beautiful murals and exquisite glazed figurines in wall niches.

Interspersed with these memories of the past are contemporary scenes of the region's ever-pervasive yellow earth and the enduring, perennial life that it sustains.

DVD (Color) / 1981 / 58 minutes

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CHINA RISING

Acclaimed travel-lecturer Dale Johnson presents a personal narrative on the world's most populated country, China, visiting a number of the country's well-known locations, both historical and modern, to reaffirm how rapidly China is rising. In Beijing, he visits the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and offers views of the Great Wall of China; in Harbin, we see a blend of industry and agriculture; then view the Three Gorges Dam in central China on the Yangtze River; a trip up the Li River takes us to the magnificent karst peaks of Guili; next we explore Ding Ling Tomb of the Wanli Emperor and the famous Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist temple and retreat; we learn of the importance of jade and silk; then close seeing the mushrooming growth of construction in China's largest city, Shanghai.

DVD / 80 minutes

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