China on four wheels. Episode 2

Description

Anita Rani and Justin Rowlatt continue their epic car journeys across China, heading for their final destination, the financial mega-city of Shanghai. Along the way, they navigate congested cities and winding mountain roads to explore how the country's economic growth, symbolised by its booming car industry, is affecting people's lives. On her route through the industrialised east, Anita visits some of the country's most sophisticated and luxurious cities. In Qingdao, she discovers a little piece of the Loire Valley: a Chinese wine chateau with an accompanying vineyard. In Hangzhou, she joins a couple on their wedding day, complete with a luxury car fleet, and finds out how weddings have changed since the couple's grandparents were married in the 1960s. Meanwhile, Justin continues his epic journey through the poor, remote Chinese countryside in his loaf-shaped bread van. He bumps rather precariously up the potholed Aizhai Highway, one of China's most dangerous roads, and visits the brand new engineering marvel of the Aizhai Bridge. He explores the life of farmers from the Miao ethnic minority deep in the Hunan countryside, and tries to get to the bottom of Mao Zedong's legacy in contemporary China. On the final leg of their journey across China, Anita and Justin discover a country that has developed rapidly, raising millions out of poverty, but which faces important challenges: a lack of healthcare and support for the vulnerable, pollution, and growing inequality.

Runtime

53 minutes

Series

Subjects

Geography

Genre

Database

Alexander Street

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