The Great Wall of China: this huge stone serpent winds across nearly 2,000 miles of rugged mountains in the People’s Republic of China. It is the longest structure in the world. ibid.
At the Shaolin Temple in China a Buddhist monk faces a test that will change the course of his life for ever. Sacred Wonders s1e1, BBC 2019
400 monks live and study here; 100 of those are warrior monks. ibid.
‘I was told I was being sent to inner China to study. Only then I got there did I realise I had been taken to a camp. I thought it looked even scarier than a prison … very grim and frightening …’ China: A New World Order I, BBC 2019, victim
He is a leader like no other: commander of a formidable military, president of a rising superpower. This series tells the story of Chinese president XI Jingping’s six-year rule. He heads an economy that is now crucial to all of us. For years world leaders have sought to work with him to solve some of the most pressing issues of our time. But in the west there is growing anxiety about how President Xi’s China is extending its power. Inside China his communist government has become increasingly intolerant of criticism and dissent. Evidence is now emerging of monstrous crimes against humanity. And in Hong Kong he is now facing the biggest ever challenge to his authority. ibid.
‘The Communist Party’s corruption is notorious around the world.’ ibid. ex-securities trader
Journalists at Bloomberg and Beijing had begun asking questions about Xi’s family wealth. It took weeks of painstaking work. ibid.
In the US the talk is no longer of cooperation. China: A New World Order II
Hong Kong: the police response was uncompromising … As the demonstrations grew in power the police pulled back. ibid.
‘China could be gaining influence over a lot of nations who feel they have no alternative.’ ibid. US commentator
Sri Lanka: The loans from China proved controversial ... The new government struggled to keep up the repayments, so China took control of the port on a 99-year lease. ibid.
The Chinese state stands accused of stealing the West’s technology and business secrets through hacking and industrial espionage. There’s now serious concern about allowing China’s companies to invest in sensitive parts of British infrastructure. China: A New World Order III
He could be president for the rest of his life. ibid.
Solar World launched legal action against the Chinese Government in Europe and in the United States … ‘Our company has been hacked.’ ibid.
A unit of the Chinese army was hacking Western businesses. ibid.
Details of the US government’s own computer hacking began to leak out. ibid.
The deal to allow Chinese involvement in Britain’s nuclear industry had been done when relations between China and the West were warm. But the temperature was rapidly dropping. ibid.
‘China’s outrageous theft of intellectual property.’ ibid.
His [Trump] victory paved the way for a trade war. ibid.
Despite China’s long history of hacking it was the first time the UK government had publicly blamed the Chinese state. ibid.
In June 1989 a lone figure halting a battalion of tanks in the Chinese capital Beijing sent shockwaves around the world. It is an act which China itself prefers to forget. What had started as a peaceful student protest calling for freedom and democracy ended seven weeks later in carnage. Storyville: Tiananmen: The People v the Party, BBC 2019
Thirty years on, eye-witness accounts and secret documents now help provide a deeper understanding of how the Tiananmen massacre changed the course of Chinese history. ibid.
Large scale protests broke out in 21 provinces. ibid.
On the evening of May 19th Premiere Li Peng revealed to the Party the emergency plan to suppress the students. ibid.
More than 200,000 soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army had been deployed. ibid.
The hunger strike was abandoned in favour of the permanent occupation of the Square. ibid.
Martial law was under threat from within through an unprecedented mutiny within every rank of the People’s Army itself. ibid.
On May 23th one million Beijing workers staged a mass strike in support of the student’ call for democracy. ibid.
News of the crackdown had brought more people out on the streets … They were the first to discover the brutal truth. ibid.
1979: China launches its one-child policy. 1982: The one-child policy is written into China’s constitution. 2015: China ends its one-child policy. On the day China’s one-child policy ended, the Communist Party of China announced: The one-child policy has made the country more powerful, the people more prosperous, and the world more peaceful. Storyville: One Child Nation, BBC 2019
‘The one-child policy was very strict back then. I personally witnessed many homes demolished because families refused forced sterilisation. Their roof was ripped apart. ibid.
‘It was really fucked up. I couldn’t bear to watch.’ ibid. rural village official of enforced policy
‘I want to atone for my sins, for all the abortions and killings I did.’ ibid. village midwife
Shenzhen: China’s miracle city. This entire region used to be farmland and fishing villages, home to just 30,000 people. But in just four decades it’s become a teeming metropolis of over 12,000,000 and the epicentre of China’s tech revolution. Reggie in China I: City of the Future, BBC 2019
Huaqiangbei: Electronics centre: It looks like this whole city has become Tottenham Court road. It’s like an Aladdin’s cave for tech geeks. ibid.
When you see the Chinese president on the news talking quite passionately about how well the country is doing, about trying his relationship with Europe and his relationship with America, it’s makes you realise just how much is being done to install a level of belief in your average Chinese citizens. This man [Premier] has a charm offensive on right now. Reggie in China II: Reggie Visits Beijing
I’m in China. To understand China, you have to come here. Beijing is the belly of the beast. For hundreds of years emperors have ruled from the Forbidden City. Now it’s the communist capital of the People’s Republic of China. But Beijing has also produced more billionaires that London. How can a communist dictatorship be such a capitalist success story. ibid.
And this is Shanghai. The largest city in the world. Population: 24,000,000. The jewel in the crown of the new shiny China … Shanghai has long been the country’s gateway, a melting pot, and the centre of a cultural tug-of-war between East and West. Reggie in China III
The Rap of China: a huge hit … The rappers look like they’re free to express themselves. ibid.
Western youth culture is clearly getting through. ibid.
‘Every ballroom in Shanghai was shut down in 1955.’ ibid. dancer
His so-called cultural revolution unleashed a decade of political violence and terror which cemented Mao’s control of the communist party. Up to 3,000,000 people were killed. ibid.
Today, the opium of the people of Shanghai is fast food … Now one in five Chinese children is overweight or obese. ibid.
The growing sense of national pride here in China. ibid.
These marriage markets have appeared in major cities all over China. ibid.
The truth about China’s secret indoctrination camps. Leaked documents reveal how a superpower is trying to brainwash a million people. We’ve obtained secret government instructions to those who run the camps. And we confront the Chinese state with our evidence. Panorama: How to Brainwash a Million People, BBC 2019
China has built hundreds of them in the last three years … Each of these camps has hundreds of detainees held without charge. Some hold thousands. There’s one for every town. ibid.
‘Never allow escapes. Increase discipline and punishment … Strict secrecy … The work policy of the … centres is strong and highly sensitive’. ibid. government document
Tonight we investigate how China covered up the scale of its Coronavirus crisis. The doctor and scientists prevented from telling the truth. We hear from those who have investigated the outbreak. And the government that insists it was open and transparent throughout. Panorama: China’s Coronavirus Cover-Up, BBC 2020
30 December 2019: 7 SARS cases have been confirmed from Huanan market. ibid. Chinese doctor’s mistaken text
‘They need to tell the people of Wuhan. But they don’t.’ ibid. Matthew Henderson, Asia Studies, Henry Jackson University
Until the 18th January China admitted to only 45 cases in the whole country. The true number in Wuhan was 4,000 alone according to British researchers. ibid.
23rd January: the entire city of Wuhan, population 11 million, was quarantined. Across China hundreds of millions would soon face travel restrictions. Beijing says the lockdown bought the world time. But the virus had already gone global. ibid.