China in the Red
Producer – Kathryn Dietz, 120 minutes, 2003
Producer/Director/Writer – Sue Williams
In Distribution
Today more Chinese are better off than ever before. Yet this phenomenal growth has created monumental problems for the Communist government: The People’s Republic of China can no longer afford to subsidize the centerpiece of its own system, the state-owned factories and enterprises which employ 70% of the country’s urban workers. Millions of people are being laid off, and there is no social safety net to catch them.
With their world in flux, the Chinese are facing huge personal challenges and dilemmas. China in the Red examines their changing values and social expectations; the ever-growing generation gap; the alarming gulf between rich and poor, and between cities and the countryside; the remarkable efforts made by many individuals to find and harness new opportunities; and what it means to be Chinese today.
The two-hour documentary special for Frontline, China in the Red explores events in China by taking both a broad view across the country’s different regions and classes, and an intimate view from individual Chinese perspectives. By following a cross-section of individuals over a 3-year period, the film is an intimate portrait of people struggling to survive in extraordinary circumstances.