Watch the latest videos from News, documentaries, sport and lifestyle at China Underground.
Euro 2016 is going down a hit in China but not everyone’s love of the game is above board. As Graham Mackay reports, millions of … Read more
Beijing’s appointed a new head to its powerful internet regulator. Xu Lin has publicly vowed to maintain the ruling Communist Party’s tight grip over cyberspace.
Heavy rains caused damage and significant losses for sellers in a large underground shopping center in Jinan, Shandong, China.
Ginza shopping mall covers an area of more than 40,000 square meters and it is located in Jinan Springs Plaza. Jinan is the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVcJ3tOaa94[/embedyt]
topic: Heavy rains in China, Heavy rains,flood,flood in China,shopping,Jinan,Ginza shopping center,video
A cellphone video showing a man publicly hitting eight employees (four men and four women) of a rural bank with a stick in China for … Read more
Disney has been showing off its newest theme park in Shanghai one day before its grand opening.
Around 1,300 ‘Warcraft’ fans gathered on Tuesday (June 7) night to show off their cosplay ahead of the film’s premiere at a cinema in the … Read more
The Thousand Buddha Grottoes (千佛洞) form a system of 492 temples 25 km southeast of Dunhuang.
The Mogao Caves along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes are the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. Situated at a strategic point along the Silk Route, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural, and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art. Carved into the cliffs above the Dachuan River, the Mogao Caves south-east of the Dunhuang oasis, Gansu Province, comprise the largest, most richly endowed, and longest used treasure house of Buddhist art in the world.
It was first constructed in 366AD and represents the great achievement of Buddhist art from the 4th to the 14th century. 492 caves are presently preserved, housing about 45,000 square meters of murals and more than 2,000 painted sculptures. Cave 302 of the Sui dynasty contains one of the oldest and most vivid scenes of cultural exchanges along the Silk Road, depicting a camel pulling a cart typical of trade missions of that period.
Caves 23 and 156 of the Tang dynasty show workers in the fields and a line of warriors respectively and in the Song dynasty Cave 61, the celebrated landscape of Mount Wutai is an early example of artistic Chinese cartography, where nothing has been left out – mountains, rivers, cities, temples, roads, and caravans are all depicted.
As evidence of the evolution of Buddhist art in the northwest region of China, the Mogao Caves are of unmatched historical value. These works provide an abundance of vivid materials depicting various aspects of medieval politics, economics, culture, arts, religion, ethnic relations, and daily dress in western China.
The unique artistic style of Dunhuang art is not only the amalgamation of Han Chinese artistic tradition and styles assimilated from ancient Indian and Gandharan customs but also an integration of the arts of the Turks, ancient Tibetans, and other Chinese ethnic minorities. Many of these masterpieces are creations of unparalleled aesthetic talent.
The discovery of the Library Cave at the Mogao Caves in 1990, together with the tens of thousands of manuscripts and relics it contained, has been acclaimed as the world’s greatest discovery of ancient Oriental culture. This significant heritage provides an invaluable reference for studying the complex history of ancient China and Central Asia.
Mogao Caves encompass caves, wall paintings, painted sculptures, ancient architecture, movable cultural relics, and their settings. The property area and buffer zone contain all the attributes that demonstrating the values of the Mogao Caves and thus ensure the integrity of both the heritage site and its environment.
Documents of Western Xia, Central Asian and Phags-pa scripts had been discovered through archaeological investigations in the 243 caves in the northern area of Mogao Caves, which was the area for monks to live and meditate and also served as the graveyard in the past. The Mogao Caves comprise the Northern Area and Southern Area caves together.
Source: UNESCO TV / © NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai URL: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/440/
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
topics: unesco site in China,buddhist caves
A glass-bottom platform that takes visitors a towering 400 metres above ground opens in China. Yuming Woo reports. At 400 metres above the ground, this … Read more
There’s no masking this Chinese factory’s enthusiasm for American politics, as Julie Noce reports.
1940 Documentary about Chengdu People (Sichuan).
An instructional movie produced by Erpi Classroom Films Inc.
In collaboration with O.J.CALDWELL Formerly of University of Nanking
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNXXgc47a-A[/embedyt]
Life and work of the people who live in Chengtu, located in a valley in western China.
Contents. The life and work of the people who live in a valley in western China.
Chengtu lies cradled between lofty chains of mountains. There are views of its ancient wall, its temples and tombs, and its streets.
Outside the city, the farmers cultivate their land as they have for centuries. An ancient irrigation system planned by Li Ping 2,000 years ago is still in use. The grain is made into flour in an old mill using water for power. Rice is hulled with apparatus ancient in design. The products of the farm are offered for sale in the markets of the city.
Following views of bamboo growing in a clump, the many uses of this product are indicated — the making of furniture, household utensils, rope, sedan chairs, bridges, etc.
Some of the ancient crafts of China are pictured. As a potter is shown at work, the commentator says that the potter’s wheels revolved during the classic dynasties of Tang and Sung and Ming. A silversmith works at his ancient trade. As silk weavers are shown, the commentator says that a legend claims that the Chinese have been weaving silk for over 4,000 years. Rich silk fabrics are displayed in the shops of the city. There are views of the mulberry trees on which the silkworms feed.
Modern science is changing the ancient ways of life. Modern electric power has brought with it the telephone, the electric light, and the motion picture projector. The Chinese farmer working in his fields sees modern automobiles and airplanes. Modern medical science replaces the herb doctor.
Appraisal. Good for (1) showing an ancient city located in western China, (2) indicating the agricultural practices of farmers in western China, and (3) showing the ancient handicrafts of that country. Should be useful in developing an appreciation of the antiquity of Chinese civilization and in indicating the influence of modern inventions on the Chinese way of life.
A sequence showing the many uses for bamboo suggests the ingenuity of the people in adopting an abundant native product to their needs. Although the film does not specifically mention the effect of the Japanese invasion, it can very well be used as background material for a study of that action.
Photography and sound are excellent.
Related articles: Red Chinese Battle Plan
Topics: China,documentary,documentary on old China,old China,chengdu,sichuan,old documentary,history of China
Extreme pollution conditions make China rethink its socio-economic political view.
Some thoughts on the topic by TestTube News. Air pollution has become a major issue in China, and poses a threat to Chinese public health. The immense growth of the People’s Republic of China since the 1980s has resulted in increased soil pollution.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDuVdvVdlM[/embedyt]
As China’s waste production increases, insufficient efforts to develop capable recycling systems have been attributed to a lack of environmental awareness. In 2011, China produced 2.3 million tons of electronic waste. In 1997, the World Bank issued a report targeting China’s policy towards industrial pollution. The report stated that “hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness have been caused by exposure to industrial air pollution. [Wikipedia]
Topics: china, asia, china history, global warming, coal power progress, environment, industrial revolution, benefits of industrial revolution, china global power
Red Chinese Battle Plan is a Cold War-era American Propagandistic documentary against China produced by the United States Department of Defense in 1967.
Presented as a documentary on Chinese history, the film mixed Cold War-era anti-communist rhetoric with earlier Western Yellow Peril rhetoric into one, portraying China as seeking to gain control of Africa and Latin America before moving on to capture the United States.
related article: People of Western China, 1940
South China Sea is a strategic area for Chinese government.
The region has been a source of much tension among countries with competing territorial claims to portions of the region, and China’s rapid expansion in recent years has only made things worse.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbr5c5h_ExY[/embedyt]
China Uncensored produced an interesting video about the rampant phenomenon of Ghost Cities in China: Ordos, Luliang and others.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZdBeczDLpA[/embedyt]
