Scenes from the Great Leap Forward
The Story
Canadian visitors to China describe the sights and sounds of Mao's push for modernization.
Program: CBC Wednesday Night
Broadcast Date: Feb. 18, 1959
Guest(s): Oakleigh Dalgleish, Morton Shulman, Gloria Shulman, William Stevenson, Lewis Walmsley, Tuzo Wilson
Host: Jim Eayrs
Duration: 7:52
Revolution and Evolution in Modern China more
China’s need for oil
China's growing car culture and accelerating economy are fuelling a nearly unquenchable thirst for oil.
Rating China’s human rights record
A human-rights activist describes the dismal everyday life of workers in China.
China joins the space race
China's first "taikonaut" is launched into orbit as the country develops its technological know-how.
Capitalism, Chinese style
Entrepreneurs and foreign investors are hoping to cash in on China's booming "socialist market economy."
Canadian MPs expelled from China
Three visiting parliamentarians are asked to leave China when they push too hard on human rights.
China’s one-child policy
China attempts to check overpopulation with a policy permitting just one child for each family.
Business vs. bureaucracy in China
It's not always smooth sailing for foreigners trying to do business in China.
New reality in old China
In the birthplace of Confucius, peasants' standards of living improve after economic reforms.
China reaches out
Trade with the west is exploding and industrialization is increasing as China leaves Mao's influence behind.
Pierre Trudeau goes to China
The Canadian prime minister is granted an audience with Chairman Mao.
‘Ping-pong diplomacy’: China challenges the United States
A series of games between U.S. and Chinese ping-pong teams opens up China-U.S. relations.
Debating China and the UN
How will China's seat at the UN change the global political spectrum?
1971: Canada and Communist China open diplomatic relations
A delegation arrives in Ottawa to establish the first Chinese Embassy in North America since Mao Zedong took power.
Mao’s Cultural Revolution
A CBC crew is invited to China in 1969 to examine the effects of the Cultural Revolution.
‘Two innocents in Red China’
Author Jacques Hébert recalls travelling to China with Pierre Trudeau in 1960.
Charles Taylor describes life in 1960s China
Globe and Mail correspondent and author of Reporter in Red China answers questions from an audience of young adults on…
The leaders of post-imperial China
Early 20th century China was dominated by Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong.
World reacts to Chinese revolution
Britain is the first world power to recognize China's new Communist regime under Mao.
Will Canada recognize Communist China?
The Canadian ambassador says there's no reason why Canada and China can't do business after the communist takeover.
Communists poised for victory in China
What kind of government, nationalist or communist, would be better for peasants in China?