Understanding China Through A Documentary

By staff reporter ZHOU LIN

The fast-paced three-episode documentary China： Time of Xi produced by the Discovery Channel delves into China’s society， governance， and international cooperation under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. It explores what is changing this country， what China’s unique experience can bring to the world， and what is the driving force for Xi as the leader of the world’s second largest economy. Through its vivid storytelling， the audience can better understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era from a comprehensive perspective.

The three episodes are hosted by American TV producer and designer Danny Forster， Australian engineer and entrepreneur Jordan Nguyen， and British anthropologist Mary Ann Ochota. Each of them taps into their respective area of expertise in presenting China’s fast development， bringing diversity to the narrative as well as adding fascinating insights.

The documentary is also interspersed with interviews with a panel of the world’s leading “China watchers，” including former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Michael Rudd， Chairman of the Kuhn Foundation of the United States Robert Lawrence Kuhn， senior researcher Martin Jacques at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom， and Zheng Yongnian， dean of the Advanced Institute of Global and Contemporary China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong （Shenzhen）， and many other internationally renowned experts and scholars.

The first episode People’s Republic explains Xi’s people-centered governance philosophy through stories of ordinary people benefiting from the targeted poverty alleviation campaign， healthcare reforms， investment in education， and high-speed railway network construction.

Shibadong was a little-known village in Hunan Province. Shi Pazhuan is a widow leading a solitary and poor life in the village. In 2013， Shibadong was listed as a pilot village for targeted poverty alleviation. With government support， Shi and her neighbors invested in a 66-hectare kiwi fruit orchard. Now， the fruit harvest has made Shi’s life more prosperous.

Shi still remembers when President Xi came to her village and asked about her life in detail in 2013. At that time， she did not even know that the man was the top leader of the nation. But soon， she watched television and realized she was talking with President Xi.

This episode also explores how Xi’s early experiences may have shaped his vision for a “Chinese Dream” and driven him to commit himself to ending poverty for millions of poor Chinese.

The story then shifts focus to Liangjiahe Village in Yanchuan County， Shaanxi Province. Xi spent seven years in the village from the age of 15 onward. He was elected the village Party secretary when he was 20. The first thing he did was to build a foundry and a mill. The village’s former Party secretary said Xi did not shy away from doing grueling， unpleasant work， thus winning people’s trust and respect of him. In 1975， Xi left the village and worked in five other places across China.

In his interview， Kuhn said Xi was governor of Fujian， Party secretary of Zhejiang， and Party secretary of Shanghai. Each of the places is bigger than most countries of the world in terms of the size of population and economy. Rudd pointed out that the Chinese system of training political leaders is pretty comprehensive. China has a vast territory and a complex internal situation. Xi accumulated rich experience in different regions and in different fields. This allows him to formulate more effective strategies when dealing with China’s future economic challenges.

The second episode Running China Now documents China’s supply-side structural reform， technological innovation， and environmental protection to explain the country’s new development concepts and successful practices.

Gong Jiaqin， founder of the Guangdong-based XAG， is committed to the application of drones in the agricultural sector. He said for a long time， Chinese farmers had been accustomed to the laborious， timeconsuming， and low-income traditional farming. Drones can spray plants 40 times faster than humans. They are also capable of collecting data on terrain， plants， and pests for well-informed agricultural decisions. Technological innovation has sped up the transformation of agriculture and also upgraded the Chinese economy.

Just as the anchor Danny Forster notes， innovation has become the main focus of Xi’s economic policies. As Xi said when addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in 2014， a defining feature of the new normal in China’s economic development is the shift from growth driven by production factors and investment to innovation-driven development.

Through stories of the Belt and Road Initiative （BRI）， the MombasaNairobi Railway， and the China-Europe freight train service， the final episode All Aboard explains the concept of “a community of a shared future for humanity” proposed by President Xi， and showcases the slew of opportunities China’s peaceful development has brought for the rest of the world.

Elizabeth， a female train driver in Kenya， spoke standard Chinese during the interview as she had learned driving skills in China. The train she operates runs on the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway， which was completed in May 2017. It is Kenya’s largest project after the country’s independence and part of the BRI investment. Prior to this， Kenya’s railway network was quite underdeveloped， but the government did not have enough money to build new infrastructure.

In 2014， Xi provided a solution： China would provide a loan of 90 percent of the cost of the railway， technical expertise， and training for Kenyan technicians in China. Travel time from Nairobi to Mombasa has thus been reduced from 24 hours to four and a half hours thanks to the construction of the railway， which also brings unlimited opportunities for local economic development.

The vision of building a “community of a shared future for humanity” has had a profound impact on the entire world. Also included in the third episode are stories about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiated by China funding environmental protection programs in Indonesia， the China-Europe freight railway， American students studying traditional Chinese medicine in China， and Chinese peacekeepers protecting local civilians in South Sudan.

In the end， Danny Foster concluded by saying， “This is a time in geopolitical events that we haven’t seen in a very long time. China is going to take a new place in the world.”