General History of China (2013)

Pedestrian propaganda

I thought I'd manage a few episodes at least, as I am really keen on learning more about China's history and culture. However, the droning voice of the presenter and exhortative language with random visuals quite put me off. Not recommended if you are genuinely interested in the country's history - it seems to contain only lots of empty rhetoric, and is quite pedantic and propagandistic, instead of the interesting description and detail of how Chinese civilisation started and developed that I expected. Probably aimed at a Chinese home audience, who know most of the history already, but would like to watch lots of panning sentimental shots and philosophising about the greatness of the land and its people. By no means a BBC level documentary, and not a speck of humour to be seen. Maybe they should have got Michael Palin to present it...

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