Rating: 
Summary: Great, but not quite 5 stars
Review: This is an excellent and exhaustive documentary. The perfect primer for learning the social topography of our increasingly important neighbors to the East.But it's not a complete masterpiece. It relies primarily on archival footage. And though many of these films are rare, they are almost entirely gleaned from propaganda films. The directors fill in the gaps through interviews, some quite striking for youthful appearence of the elderly intervewees. It is remarkable for the way it concisely summarizes a complex and brutal history in 360 minutes. But what it lacks is investigative prowess and graphic brilliance. Granted, China is not the easiest country to conduct an investigation or shoot a documentary in. But I'm left with the feeling that in 5 years, with further liberalization, a 5 star version of this documentary could be made. Until then, this documentary comes highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent series for studying/understanding China today!
Review: This is one of the best I have ever seen, well worth the price and time involved. If you want to intelligently understand China's complex and torrid 20th century, this is a wise choice.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent series on modern China. Highly Recommended
Review: This set is comprehensive and well done. Many engaging and heartbreaking interviews with "insiders". I am a high school teacher and I use this in teaching my classes about 20th century china.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent material
Review: Three videos that made a complete and interesting account of the rise of modern China from late 19th century to the political adjustment after the Tiananmen incident in june 1989, including the Deng's southernr tour of 1992. Interviews are useful and well developed. The script goes softly and footage is really interesting, with some previously unshown in the west, specially from the early 50s and mass trials in the Cultural Revolution and the antirightist campaign. This work has been made with respect of the facts and no easy and sensasionalist conclusion are made. Nevertheless the average length of the videaos (120 min each), is quite useful for academical purposes.
Rating:
Summary: Far more than a History Lesson...
Review: Wow. This series consists of six one-hour episodes, and takes you through the beginning of the 20th century up until the present. The story that it tells is so incredibly bizarre and tragic and thought-provoking that at times it was difficult to believe it was all true. The 2nd DVD in particular, which focuses on the reign of Mao, really made me realize how different the Chinese culture is from my own (USA) and what a traumatic history they've had in the past 100 years. One of the things I really appreciated about this series was how non-judgmental it was. At no point did I feel that the editor or producers had a political agenda. The point was not to demonize the Communists and also not to glorify them. Instead, it simply let you watch the events unfold and let you listen to the people who lived it as they attempt to explain to you (and to themselves) how all of these unbelievable things happened and how it felt to be in the middle of it all. You could really understand why, after living through Chiang Kai-shek's corrupt Nationalist rule, the people were so eager to follow Mao and to embrace his idealistic vision of a Communist State built of equality and justice. And, too, you could see how the whole thing slowly went off-kilter. As Mao became more and more removed from the day-to-day reality of the peasants, his ideas became increasingly demented. In a sense, he reminded me of Marlon Brando's character in "Apocalypse Now," except that Mao was real and was in the position of leadership of almost one billion people. By the time the documentary got to the Cultural Revolution (the fourth of the six episodes), it's like you're watching some insane Monty Python-esque satire about revolutions within revolutions. Everyone was overthrowing everyone else, and all in the name of Mao. Watching this series will do far more than teach you some fascinating history; it will also make you re-examine all your most basic assumptions about how humans think and function. There's one woman interviewed who talks about an old man who was beaten to death shortly before her arrival, because a crowd of youths decided he was a Capitalist. She says at the end of the story that she still can't say for sure if she would have helped in beating him to death or not, had she arrived in time to do so. And this isn't some crazy woman saying this. It's someone perfectly sane and normal who simply got swept up in the times she was living in. I cannot recommend this series highly enough.
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