Communist China Documentary "Red China" Part 2 14684 (1962)

Synopsis

Part 2 focuses on the footage Gigon captured during his 1961 visit and begins with Chet Huntley addressing the camera. Then the episode cuts to a Chinese delegation in Canada walking with Canadian officials. Footage shows rural China from the window of a train. Gigon sits on a bed in what appears to be a hotel room and discusses filming in China and how he had to smuggle his film out of the country (01:32). The episode shows Gigon’s footage, starting with shots of Canton (Guangzhou) and the hotel where Gigon stayed (02:11), followed by footage of the Pearl River, men rowing boats, and people pulling wagons loaded with wood, sacks, or cargo boxes along Canton’s streets. People stand on a sidewalk and read the People’s Party newspaper (03:09). A soldier stands amid a group of civilians. Children look through propaganda comic books (03:43). Men unload baskets of cucumbers in Canton (04:10). A man sits above the river, presumably on a sampan, eating a meal. There are more shots of the boats and what Gigon calls the “Sampan people.” At a Sampan community (most likely a Tanka community), children learn the Chinese alphabet (05:12). Due to a shortage of school buildings, some children learn outdoors. Women lift a heavy drum up a steep ramp (06:11). People stretch iron bars in a street. Footage shows people turning a hand-powered mill, and sailboats moving on the river. Gigon then shares his footage from Peking (Beijing), starting with footage taken while driving down the Avenue of…

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Details

Running time

23 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage