This is the first part of the three-part documentary about People’s Republic of China, filmed in 1967 by Swedish filmmaker Bo Gaertze, and released by a number of companies (this is a German version released by the FWU). This movie features the Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province and shows the sights of the Northern China. It depicts China, as it was – one year into the Cultural Revolution. It provides a look at the lives of the children and teens, who would become what is dubbed in today’s China by the Chinese Gen-X and by the Chinese Greatest Generation – “the Lost Generation”, “the Sacrificed Generation” or, less kindly – “the troubled olds”. They suffered the consequences of the Cultural Revolution which saw the removal of the teachers who were supposed to help industrialize and modernize China.

00:16 Map of China with the journey by trans-Siberian railway from Mongolia to Beijing.

00:47 Fields as far as the eye can see. Inner Mongolia.

0:59 Passing a hamlet unfired brick, wattle and daub huts

1:26 A small herd of camels.

1:33 The Great Wall of China and Chinese tourists.

2:44 People working with hand tools and hand carts

3:03 Stonemason, shaping blocks with a hammer and a chisel, splitting a stone block with a maul and a wedge.

3:16 Workers carrying a stone block on a wooden pole and a chain sling over their shoulders.

3:51 Workers tilling the soil around maize stalks.

4:20 Adults, planting grain.

4:24 Card : “People’s commune”

4:50 People’s commune of the Shanxi province, where the (CCP) secretary Cheng Yung is discussing work with a group of young people.

5:05 The Little Red Book and an edition of Selected Work of Mao Zedong

5:37 A man, making bricks with a brick frame.

6:15 Brick yard.

6:45 Workers inspecting fired and stacked brick of blueish color.

7:15 A licensed Chinese version of the Skoda 706RTO bus, probably of a Beijing Bus Repair Factory

7:24 Buildings of the local council and of a school.

7:31 People working some tool and on a heater

7:41 At the same workshop – a smithy, workers sharpening tools by hand. A mechanized smith’s hammer.

8:05 A sawmill and carpentry workshop, making tables, barrels and buckets.

8:11 Old man, making a bucket.

8:31 Pig farm.

9:09 Women bringing fodder for the cows and other cattle.

9:22 Women, feeding the cows.

9:38 Entrance to a home.

10:00-10:15 Old woman slicing dough with a chopper to make noodles,

10:16-10:51 The family sitting round a chest with the meal served on it and eating some stir-fried vegetables, noodle soup and steamed buns

10:55-11:25 A clean village shop. Shop attendants talking with the woman buying cloth for making clothing

11:26 Doctor’s office. The doctor inserts an acupuncture needle.

11:54 Inserting a needle just shy of the kneecap.

10:55 Children in a kindergarten, singing and exercising.

12:15 Children play soldiers while singing and marching and aiming with wooden rifles. 12:30-13:15 The children are singing in chorus.

13:15 The local village secretary talking to a Young Pioneer’s member

13:36 Views from the train window through the fertile province of Hubei near Beijing

13:55 Tsinghua University Stadium, Beijing

14:00 Old Beijing

14:05 A busy intersection next to the Tiananmen square, a lot of Skoda busses in the background while the majority ride bicycles.

14:09 Monument to the People’s Heroes, Tiananmen square.

14:12 National Museum of China, Beijing

14:15 The CPC National Congess Building

14:21 Gugong gardens entrance, Forbidden City

14:28 Inner Left Gate inside the Forbidden City proper

14:45 Place in front of the Hall of The Supreme Harmony

14:49 Entrance to the Hall of The Supreme Harmony

14:55 Pavilion of the Middle Harmony

15:01 Pavilion of the Thousand Autumns, Imperial Gardens

15:17 Meridian Gate

15:19 Jinshan Park Gate – the Ten Thousand Springs Pavillion (Wanchun)

15:25 Young Pioneers and their guides visiting the pavilions.

15:42 Another group of Young Pioneers, older children in summer city uniforms

16:00 The Chang-An Avenue – mix of fifties and sixties Soviet (ZIL, ZIS), Warsaw pact and Western cars (Mercedes Benz)

16:14 The special Beijing Bus Repair Factory 706-RTO Skoda double bus

16:25 People crossing under a road sign « Xidan Beidajie » ( Xidan district, North street)

16:28 Newspaper saleswoman

16:32 Greenery shop.

16:40 Watermelon stand.

16:46 Popsicle stand

16:54 The Beijing Department Store

16:58 Workers writing on the wall “Listen to the guidance of the (Communist) Party”

17:05 A draughtsman sketching a pattern.

17:10 Carpet-weavers at work on their tables

17:25 Carpet-trimmer at work

17:44 Final product – a beautiful trimmed carpet.

17:49 Film made by Bo Gartze, Sweden

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