China: Power and Prosperity (2019)
Rating: 6.9/10
From PBS NewsHour comes China: Power and Prosperity, an immersive feature-length exploration of the country's internal progress and growing sphere of power and influence across the globe.
Featuring insights from more than 70 interview subjects, the film examines the values promoted by President Xi Jinping, and how his embrace of Communist ideals is shaping the future of the country. Do his efforts represent a prosperous diagnosis for the Chinese people, or a compromised system that squanders personal freedoms?
In some parts of the country, the president enjoys a reputation as a leader of near mythic status. Evidence of the "cult of Xi" can be seen across the countryside. Billboards and films are produced in his honor and school curriculums are designed to promote his infallibility. Meanwhile, in cities like Hong Kong, protestors have taken to the streets to oppose the president's oppressive power plays and abolishment of essential human rights. They cite his extensive use of prisoner camps, surveillance cameras and other paranoia-based abuses of power.
With the Belt and Road initiative, the most expensive infrastructure development plan in history, Jinping has promised a lucrative opening to the rest of the world that will positively impact all Chinese people. Critics view it as a global beltway to unparalleled corruption.
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