In “Red China”, host Chet Huntley traces the consolidation of power by Mao Tse-tung and China’s Communist Party. Courtesy of footage from Swiss photographer Fernand Gigon, the episode gives viewers a look at China as it industrializes and strives to become a world power. “Part 1” of the episode starts out with footage of Chinese men pulling a boat upriver, communist soldiers marching during the 10th Anniversary celebration, and Fernand Gigon. Chet Huntley speaks to the camera (01:47) about U.S. relations with communist China. There is a shot of Hong Kong from the point of view of a tram moving up a mountain (02:43). Footage shows Chinese people moving between Hong Kong and China, as well as people walking through the streets of Hong Kong. Gigon sits in a hotel room making notes; then he speaks to the camera about his first visit in 1956 (03:50) and his most recent visit. Viewers see the Lowu railway station (05:10); passenger cars pass by agriculture fields. Communists and Mao Tse-tung hole up in their mountain hideout during fighting with Chiang Kai-shek’s forces (05:50). In Shanghai, people are executed in a street (06:37). Nationalists retreat from China and flee to Formosa (Taiwan). A mob crowds the entrance to a bank. A man uses an ox-drawn plow to clear out mud in a rice paddy (08:31). Communists celebrate in 1949 as Mao and forces march into Peking (Beijing). Mao meets with his officers. Mao arrives in Moscow and is greeted by Soviet leaders (09:33). In February 1950 Zhou Enlai signs the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship as Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev watch. Chinese peasants labor to produce food; a woman mills grain with an old foot-operated mill. Chinese in the streets protest against the U.S. and imperialists (11:00). Prisoners sit for “thought reform (11:30) in a prison’s courtyard. A village association watches as people air grievances. There are portrait shots of several peasants. People rebuild factories in a city, hauling stones and mortar by hand (12:30). Mao waves to thousands of supporters (13:00). Men build a road and use primitive tools and systems to move earth. Men move along a cliffside using only ropes as they begin to build a road to Tibet (15:25). Soviet technicians teach Chinese how to use machines as China industrializes (16:10). A woman sits in front of an electric loom. Peasants work a collective farm (17:42). People march in a parade, celebrating China’s success in food production. That quickly changes when massive flooding happens. People stand in a flooded area and look at the damage (18:35). Chinese men try to harvest a rice crop from a flooded area. Mao climbs out of a bus and waves to people while promoting the “Great Leap Forward” (20:10). Women use wheelbarrows to move earth while building a dam outside Peking. Young men hoist a large motor using poles and carry it off camera (21:30). Footage shows Chinese breaking rock while building a mountain road, then laying rail road ties and track. The episode shows a new bridge over the Yangtze River (23:20), and the first train crosses the bridge. People celebrate the success of the bridge. A labor brigade marches with rifles. Chinese peasants work in rural fields (24:46), harvesting grain. A made-in-China tractor plows a field (25:17). Men drive one of the country’s only harvester combines. Chinese make more steel with backyard blast furnaces (26:27). The episode shows a coal power plant and a steel factory. Women work in a massive modern cotton mill. On 1 October 1959, Khrushchev arrives in Peking (28:25) and is greeted by Mao. Viewers see footage of the military parade and celebration of the country’s 10th Anniversary. People release balloons during the celebration (31:08), and fireworks light up the Peking night, concluding “Part 1” of the episode.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
