Human Face of China, The

1979, Total Running Time 140 Minutes

A series of five comprehensive human-interest programs on China and its people.

It is Always So in the World The Sun family of six lead a life closely integrated into the communal system of Pengpu, one of 150 villages built in Shanghai in two decades from the 1950s.

Mind, Body and Spirit Looks at China’s health care system and how propaganda is used to spread awareness of disease. Medical services for China’s rural people, who make up 80 per cent of the population, were built on the integration of Chinese traditional and Western medical practices. Most basic health care needs are met by “barefoot doctors”. This program follows two of these practitioners in Chienchou People's Commune.

One Hundred Entertainments Based in Xi’an, on the old silk road to the west, the Shanxi Provincial Acrobatic Troupe are skilled in their art and loved by the people who see them perform. The troupe’s tradition goes back 2000 years. It spends as much as eight months a year on tour.

Something for Everyone Examines the life of Chian Li-he and his family as part of a People’s Commune in Kwangtung, China, which aims for self-sufficiency. By following the family at work and at home, the film explains how a commune operates, by describing the schools, businesses, hospitals and agricultural practices.

Son of the Ocean One of the grandest links in China’s network of waterways is the Yangtze River, which was closed to foreigners in 1949. In this riverboat journey, as we travel through the Yangtze Gorges on the way from Chungking (Chongqing) to Wuhan, the story of the boat’s crew and passengers unfolds.

© 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.