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From China’s wild west to Beijing’s boom, photography and filmmaking duo Jeff and Peter Hutchens capture china in its moment of change.
Jeff Hutchens
Himself - Host
Peter Hutchens
Himself - Host
Streaming availability information not available
2009
Jeff and Peter Hutchens begin their journey through China in the city of Kashgar. Located near the only passes through the nearly impassible Pamir mountains, Kashgar was the last stop before starting out on the 'the Silk Road' to western markets. In Kashgar, they barter for hats in the market, obtain a Uyghar knive, attend a cock-fight, celebrate the Muslim holiday of Ramada, and even eat goats head! On the Silk Road, the brothers buy silks, hunt for precious white jade, ride a camel caravan through the desert, and play a version of polo with a goats head.
The brothers take a journey on the world's third longest river, the Yangtze. Peter and Jeff grew up near the Yangtze and now they are returning to this part of the river known as the Three Gorges to get one last look before this land is consumed by the rising waters. The Chinese government is building the world's biggest dam on the Yangtze in this region and iIt will displace millions of people from theirs homes and a way of life they have always known.
Peter and Jeff revisit the cold, Communist city of their youth: Harbin. What they find is a vibrant commercial city that has come to embrace its icy heritage. The brothers will also embrace the ice (quite literally) as they swim in icy waters, make an ice sculpture, race down an ice slide and drink in a bar made of ice.
Peter and Jeff visit the Chinese province of Yunnan. Yunnan is province with largest diversity in all of China, with 25 different minorities. To learn about these different minorities, the brothers visit the National Ethnic Minorities Park and soon discover that to really understand the cultures of these people, they will need to visit them in their native villages.
Peter and Jeff visit with the Buddhist monks of China. In Ganzu, they will be the first westerners to film inside the yellow hat Tibetan monks' temple before visiting the red hat and Ban sects. In Yunnan, Pete and Jeff visit the rainforest and temples of the Dai Buddhists. They finish their journey at a graceful and explosive Dai ceremony.
Peter and Jeff visit the capital of Beijing, where they seek to compare the old and new traditions in this rapidly changing nation. They join a punk band, play Ping-Pong with a member of the Communist Youth League and compare a traditional hutong neighborhood to a modern skyscraper under construction. Then it is off to Inner Mongolia, where the people's way of life has gone relatively unchanged for centuries.