Expired March 28, 2022 3:45 AM
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Co-presented with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars


Includes a pre-recorded discussion with Yifei Li (Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, NYU Shanghai) and Judith Shapiro (Director of the Masters in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, American University), moderated by Jennifer Turner (Director, the Wilson Center's China Environment Forum).

An impressionistic portrait of China’s industrial supply chain that reveals the country’s growing class divide through staggering observations of labor, consumerism, and wealth. The documentary portrays capitalism in China across the levels of its operation, from the crudest mine to the most rarefied forms of leisure. Accordingly, the film is structured in three parts, ascending through the levels of the capitalist structure: workers running factory production, the middle class training for and selling to aspirational consumers, and the elites reveling in a new level of hedonistic enjoyment. In traveling up the rungs of China’s social ladder, we see how each level supports and makes possible the next while recognizing the contemporary "Chinese Dream" remains an elusive fantasy for most.

  • Year
    2021
  • Runtime
    98 minutes
  • Country
    United States
  • Premiere
    D.C. Premiere
  • Director
    Jessica Kingdon