China in 1957: A Celebration of Zhou Enlai

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Marking the passing of Premier Zhou Enlai, January 8, 1976;  a rare moment in history, edited by the Zhou Enlai Peace Institute.

This is an excerpt from the first film about China to be made by an American, following the establishment of New China in 1949.

In 1957, after serving in the US Army at NATO Supreme Headquarters in Paris, Robert Carl Cohen was working toward a Doctorate in Social Psychology at the Sorbonne when, defying the US State Department’s travel ban, he traveled across Siberia to China.

At the invitation of the All-China Youth Federation, Cohen filmed throughout China for six weeks for NBC-TV. He visited eight cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai; climbed the Great Wall and sailed the Yangtze River. He attended a parade which included Zhou Enlai and Mao Tse-tung. His reports were televised on NBC Nightly News with Chet Huntley, and on the Today Show.

58 years later, the 85-year Robert Cohen returned to the China, to see a greatly changed country.

Chinese version, with subtitles

from “Inside Red China,” © Radicalfilms, 2007.