Channel 4 China: Triumph And Turmoil (2012)

Niall Ferguson meets the people who can explain what China stands for: from newly minted billionaires in China's megacities to the survivors of the madness of Chairman Mao; and from aggressive young nationalists hacking into our computers to the brave defenders of China's rural poor. And he answers the questions that should concern all of us: will this turn out to be the Chinese century? Should we be scared? Or will the Red Dragon crash and burn?

Niall Ferguson meets the people who can explain what China stands for: from newly minted billionaires in China's megacities to the survivors of the madness of Chairman Mao; and from aggressive young nationalists hacking into our computers to the brave defenders of China's rural poor. And he answers the questions that should concern all of us: will this turn out to be the Chinese century? Should we be scared? Or will the Red Dragon crash and burn?

In order to immunise the Peoples Republic of China against bourgeois restoration Mao Zedong embarked on the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in 1966. This was mainly directed against intellectuals. Up to 1976 the whole country was plunged into destructive chaos, shaking the country’s social foundations. The Cultural Revolution is considered today as a "grave left-wing mistake" for which Mao Zedong was responsible.

When the Communist Party took over China in 1949, it engineered a massive propaganda effort to win over the people's hearts and minds. MAKING MAO revisits the people and events responsible for making Mao Zedong the star of this cultural phenomenon. It was an artistic yet brutal onslaught of images and slogans that lasted over 25 years and kept him in power. Yet while Mao was celebrated as a God by most, those who did not abide became victimes. Our story examines what created and perpetuated this mass hysteria, and revisits the art that would both shape and nearly destroy a nation.