Jump to content

Amazing China

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazing China
Theatrical release poster
Chinese name
Simplified ChineseLợi hại,TaQuốc
Traditional ChineseLợi hại, ta quốc
Literal meaningAmazing, my country
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinlìhaile, wǒde guó
Directed byWei Tie
Based onAmazing China (2017 series)
StarringXi Jinping[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byAlibaba Pictures
Release dates
  • March 2, 2018(2018-03-02)(Mainland China)
  • May 9, 2018(2018-05-09)(Macao)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageStandard Mandarin Chinese[1]

Amazing China(Chinese:Lợi hại, ta quốc) is a 2018 Chinesepropagandadocumentary filmthat depicts Chinese advancements in science, technology, and industry, and poverty reduction duringXi Jinping's tenure as theGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party(paramount leaderofChina).[2][3]

Name

[edit]

The Chinese title of the film is "Lợi hại, ta quốc"(pinyin:lìhaile, wǒde guóroughly translates to "Amazing, My Country" ), and derives from the online slang expression "Lợi hại, ta ca",meaning" bravo, my brother ", often used by several official social media accounts of state organizations like theCommunist Youth League of China.[4]

Content

[edit]

The content of the film is from a six-episodeTV documentary with the same English title[zh]shown in 2017 (Chinese title:Huy hoàng Trung Quốc),[5]which includes the construction of theChina Railway High-speed,theHong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridgeand theFive-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope.[6]

Hua gian Group, a Chinese shoe making company hiring thousands of workers inEthiopia,was portrayed in the film as a model of "introducing China's experience of prosperity toAfrica."According to a report of theAssociated Press,however, the company's Ethiopian workers complained about low wages, the lack of safety equipment,forced laborand not being permitted to form atrade union.[7]

The documentary ends with a song performed by pop singerSun Nan.[8]

Production

[edit]

The film was co-produced byChina Central TelevisionandChina Film Co., Ltd,both state-owned enterprises, and directed by Wei Tie.[9]

Release

[edit]

The film was released inMainland Chinaon March 2, 2018, distributed byAlibaba Pictures.[10]It was reported bySouth China Morning Postthat some state companies and government-affiliated organizations required employees to watch the film. On 19 April 2018, thePublicity Department of the Chinese Communist Partyissued a memo requesting that Chinese websites and cinemas stop showing the film.[11][12]

The film was screened in a theater inMacaofrom May 9 to May 14, 2018.[13]

Reception

[edit]

Douban,the leading film review website in China, disabled the commenting and rating functions on the film's page, instead showing a "media rating" of 8.5/10 and reviews written by state media includingXinhuaand thePeople's Daily.[4][8][14]In 2018, theCyberspace Administration of Chinarequested the Chinese branch of its owner, Amazon, for the film to be removed from IMDb because of the bad reviews. Shortly after the request, some negative reviews disappeared. Amazon denied that it removed the bad reviews at the request of the Chinese government.[15]

Internationally, it is widely considered to be apropaganda film,and an effort by theChinese Communist Partyto increase itssoft power.[7][8][16]The film also is believed to be a significant step towards apersonality cult of Xi Jinpingby some observers.[8][16][17]WhileAmazing Chinadoes demonstrate a new level of sophistication in state propaganda, along with other self-congratulatory representations of China's growth "betrays an unshakeable anxiety about the continuing legitimacy of CCP rule."[18]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ab"Li hai le, wo de guo (2018)".IMDb.Retrieved12 April2018.
  2. ^Peng, Ying (9 March 2018).""Amazing China" becomes highest-grossing documentary in China ".Xinhua.Archived fromthe originalon 11 April 2018.Retrieved11 April2018.
  3. ^Li, Weida (7 March 2018)."'Amazing China' documentary takes in 100m yuan at the box office ".gbtimes.Archived fromthe originalon 12 April 2018.Retrieved11 April2018.
  4. ^abFang, Tianyu M. (16 March 2018)."'Amazing China,' A Documentary Extolling Xi Jinping, Is The Movie That Officials Want People To Love ".SupChina.Archived fromthe originalon 8 June 2018.Retrieved23 March2018.
  5. ^Huy hoàng Trung Quốc.Douban(in Chinese). Archived fromthe originalon 12 April 2018.Retrieved12 April2018.
  6. ^Wang, Kaihao (2018-02-28)."Film shows how amazing China is".China Daily.Archived fromthe originalon 12 April 2018.Retrieved12 April2018.
  7. ^abMeseret, Erika; Kinetz, Elias (2 May 2018)."'Amazing China' documentary more fiction than fact ".Star Tribune.Associated Press.Archived fromthe originalon 4 May 2018.Retrieved8 May2018.
  8. ^abcdZheng, Sarah (14 March 2018)."Xi Jinping takes leading role in hit propaganda film extolling 'amazing' China".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-04-01.Retrieved1 April2018.
  9. ^Lợi hại, ta quốc ( douban ).Douban(in Chinese). Archived fromthe originalon 11 April 2018.Retrieved11 April2018.
  10. ^Lợi hại, ta quốc ( douban ).Douban(in Chinese). Archived fromthe originalon 11 April 2018.Retrieved11 April2018.
  11. ^《 lợi hại ta quốc 》 truyền trên mạng đình bá thế nhưng cùng trung hưng sự kiện có quan hệ?.Trung Quốc kênh(in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 20 April 2018. Archived fromthe originalon 20 April 2018.Retrieved8 May2018.
  12. ^Chan, Tara Francis (26 April 2018)."China quietly pulled a propaganda film celebrating its tech giants days after the US sanctioned one of them — and it could be troubling news for Huawei".Business Insider.Archived fromthe originalon 9 May 2018.Retrieved8 May2018.
  13. ^《 lợi hại, ta quốc 》 ở Macao cử hành xem ảnh lễ(in Chinese). people.cn. 2018-05-09. Archived fromthe originalon 10 May 2018.Retrieved10 May2018.
  14. ^Huang, Zheping (15 March 2018)."China's top-grossing documentary of all time is about how great Xi Jinping is".Quartz.Archived fromthe originalon 2 May 2018.Retrieved21 March2018.
  15. ^"Special Report: Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm".Reuters.2021-12-17.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-17.Retrieved2021-12-18.
  16. ^abConnor, Neil (17 March 2018)."Xi Jinping propaganda film breaks box office records in China - because citizens have to watch it".The Telegraph.Archived fromthe originalon 19 March 2018.Retrieved11 April2018.
  17. ^Martin, Dan (March 14, 2018)."China dragoons viewers to make pro-Xi film a blockbuster".AFP. Archived fromthe originalon 21 March 2018.Retrieved21 March2018.
  18. ^Davies, Gloria (April 11, 2019). "Talking (Up) Power". In Golley, Jane; Jaivin, Linda; Farrelly, Paul J.; Strange, Sharon (eds.).The China Story Yearbook: Power.ANU Press.pp. 37–49.doi:10.22459/CSY.2019.hdl:1885/160595.ISBN978-1-760-46280-2.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amazing_China&oldid=1215633763"