China: A Century of Revolution

Deng Xiaoping in a cowboy hat.

A grainy video of communists caught in Shanghai in the waning days of a civil war, executed with a single bullet to the back of the head.

A son of a landowner talking about how he survived the Cultural Revolution, giving up everything he had to survive.

A mix of footage and eyewitness stories, this epic three part, six hour documentary tells an unforgettable story. This is modern Chinese history everyone from China knows all too well. Yet I know very little but the most general things about the history of China starting in 1911.

This is history you didn't learn in school, and I'm grateful for all the detail, specifically the unforgettable images. The sweep of China's history on the 20th century can be summed up in one word: tumultuous. Tragic is another word that comes to mind.

If you want to understand where China is today, you need to watch this to give your understanding of China some context.