Assignment: China - End of an Era
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- This episode focuses on the period between U.S. President Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China and the fall of the Gang of Four in October 1976. While the U.S. established a liaison office in Beijing, the lack of formal diplomatic relations meant that American reporters could not be based in China. Most reporting continued to be of the China-watching variety, though each of the major broadcast networks was permitted to shoot a documentary in China and many reporters gained access for short visits. It was a tumultuous period, the last year of which included the death of three of China’s revolutionary giants, a natural disaster which took a quarter of a million lives, and fierce battles over who would run China after the Mao-era.
The documentaries prepared by the networks offered a much richer look at China than had been possible previously. CBS focused, for example, on Shanghai and ABC on “the people of People’s China.” One journalist managed, as part of a left-wing group, to get to work at various sites in China, including Dazhai, the model commune. Others visited to cover the trips of American leaders including Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Gerald Ford. During the latter’s visit, one of Chairman Mao’s translators, Nancy Tang, sparked the imagination of cartoonist Gary Trudeau who turned her into the character “Honey” in his Doonesbury strip. The political strains of the era were felt by all. One especially interesting story involves a return visit thirty-years later to re-interview a teacher who was terrified of her students.
During this period, several of the Hong Kong-based China watchers reported on political struggles among China’s leaders. Deng Xiaoping reappeared on the scene, only to be purged again. Mao welcomed Nixon back to China in 1976, but the Chairman, along with Premier Zhou Enlai, exited the stage in 1976. Jiang Qing, Mao’s widow, and her associates moved to consolidate power, but the episode ends with them in prison and a giant propaganda campaign to condemn them.
Interviewees in this segment (and the organizations they represented for during this period)
Steve Bell, ABC
Richard Bernstein, Time Magazine
Henry Bradsher, Washington Star
Tom Brokaw, NBC
Raymond Burghardt, U.S. Foreign Service
Fox Butterfield, New York Times
Frank Ching, New York Times
Mike Chinoy, CBS
Irv Drasnin, CBS
Bruce Dunning, CBS
Robert Elegant, Los Angeles Times
Liu Heung-Shing, Associated Press
Bernard Kalb, CBS
Ted Koppel, ABC
Joseph Lelyveld, New York Times
Jay Matthews, Washington Post
Ron Nessen, Ford White House
J. Stapleton Roy, U.S. Foreign Service
Jerrold Schector, Time Magazine
Orville Schell, The New Yorker
Barbara Walters, NBC
A major initiative of the USC U.S.-China Institute, Assignment:China is a ten part series focusing on the work of journalists for American news organizations in China. The series begins with the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists and ends with journalists today covering a much more prosperous, but no less complicated and diverse country. Mike Chinoy writes and narrates the series. Craig Stubing is the series editor and lead videographer. Clayton Dube conceived of the project and oversees it.
Assignment: China is possible only due to the generous support of donors. The series is dedicated to the memory of John Rich, a longtime newsman who accompanied the American ping pong team to China in 1971. Our supporters include Ming Hsu and Nate Rich as well as Stephen Lesser, the U.S. State Department, and the Turner Foundation. We welcome you to join this effort by making a tax deductible contribution to the USC U.S.-China Institute.
Edgar Snow, an American journalist , the author of Red Star over China, remains the closest of relationship with the country and its leaders. He could not go to live in USA after 1949 because he was forbidden to travel to China by USA, then he had to choose to live in Switzerland. He died in 1972, according to his will, he was buried in Beijing.
Extraordinary man, USA never seems to appreciate their best, still going o. Now
Still going on now
1973.... See the Chinese riding bike on a wide street..... Few vehicles, but set up for forward hope of advancement in frog leap...... Amazing!
Foresight!
Wonderful records. It reminds me of my teenage years in Shanghai back then.
you had to think very hard before you said anything, students criticizing their teacher resulting in serious consequence... hmmm sounds familiar
It is scary huh!?
The Gang of Four had very little popular support. Chou En-lai and Chairman Mao had massive popular support.
Most civilians had no idea what was going on.
Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying were able to purge Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four because they had the support of the army.
For Deng Xiaoping and others, it was too normal to use the army to suppress "riots", which happened frequently during the Cultural Revolution. So when students gathered in Tiananmen Square in 1989, they felt that the "Red Guards" were causing trouble again, so they should continue to use the army to suppress them.
Americans at that time looked very sunny and full of righteousness.
Sounds like Evergreen State...
There's more to the picture than meets the eye (Neil Young).
Forty seven years ago.... A fete of one people, one nation different from western cultures....
They were there, they shaped the opinion of American people about those facts... and 40 years later they still don't understand a thing.
Hope somebody recommend my videos to those who want to learn Chinese.
I teach Chinese in humorous way and with cute pictures.
Chinese characters still retain their pictographic origins. Knowing what the characters look like originally can help remember them.
I’ve spent about 100,000 hours studying English humor and Western culture, and many years studying Chinese culture and jokes. My native language is Chinese.
以史为鉴。
I was an American economics prof in China for 12 years. I was so glad that SOB had long died. When I was in China ( 1999-2012) China was more relaxed compared to when Mao was there or to now, with Xi Jinping in power. But Mao was the worse in causing starvation, etc.
暴君。A killer, a tyrant, not only a SOB.
Builder of modern China, got all the racists colonial nasty trash out of the country. Contributing to today's China he was a great man in most Chinese eyes, you need to educate your self more with insights.
Some people may even label anarchists as being ultra leftist or "radical". They are making a big mistake.
Chiang Ching was NOT a radical and Chou En-lai was NOT a moderate.
God bless America and may she soar above the soulless.
America has no soul.
Using Bikini as a testing ground, Invading countries because the policy doesn't match.
C'mon Brian you are smarter than this
? or are you a product of uncle sam?
对此视频的总结:无知、肤浅和偏见
China would have been better off with Chiang Kai Shek. They lost a good 30 to 40 years.
John Connor maybe ,but i guess you dont really know china
Naive, period.
Chiang Kai Shek ws a corrupt SOB. During ww2 against the Japanese invasion, he was fighting against Mao instead of the Japanese.
beezibee China would be better off if Sun Yet-sen didn't die early!
beezibee China would be better off if Sun Yet-sen didn't die early!
The tearful criminal advisably precede because peripheral immunohistologically prefer like a zany canadian. erect, enthusiastic barber
Long live chairman Mao!Fuck Deng xiaoping