China Under Communism ' (1962)

Synopsis

China Under Communism is a 1962 film from Encyclopaedia Britannica Films that gives viewers a look at life in communist China. An American man hosts the film and talks to the camera from an office about his time in China and what he saw. He shows a map of China and redraws his route there. The film then starts showing footage of China, starting with a view of a temple at the end of a busy street (01:30), people riding through the countryside, and people working in rice paddies. The Great Wall of China climbs over hills (01:57). Viewers see the tops of the temples and palaces of the Forbidden City (02:12) and the shrine that is the tomb of Sun Yat-sen (02:34). An ox pulls a wooden hand plow as a farmer works the land (02:48). Chinese men spread manure on a field. Children help harvest grain (03:25), and an ox-powered mill grinds wheat into flour. Young members of the Chinese Army mill around a city’s square (04:28). Two members of a rural commune’s militia pose with their rifles (04:53). People work on a communal farm. Large stacks of corn show the crop’s yield after harvest. A woman picks cotton in a field. A man tends to a rice paddy (06:51). A mechanical irrigation system moves water to the farming collectives (07:27). People eat in a commune’s canteen, and children sit and play in the commune’s central nursery (08:06). People participate in a parade (08:50). Despite the lack of mechanized farming equipment, some does exist, like a self-propelled grain combine that sits on…

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Details

Running time

20 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Internet Archive item

11514ebfilmchinaundercommunismvwr

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage