Abstract:

In 1957, in the midst of the Cold War, Army veteran Robert Carl Cohen was studying Social Psychology in Paris on the G.I. Bill. While visiting the USSR he was assigned by NBC-TV's Moscow Bureau Chief Irving R. Levine to accompany & film a group of young Americans going to China in defiance of the US State Dept.'s then-existing travel ban. Arriving in Beijing after a 9 day 6,000 mile trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway, he convinced the authorities to permit him to film whatever was in public view & to air express the undeveloped & uncensored film via Moscow to NBC in New York. During a 45 day tour he became the first American to film China since the 1949 Communist victory; including previously forbidden things such as bridges, military aircraft, tanks, & the "brain washing" of political prisoners. After appearing on the TODAY SHOW & HUNTLEY NEWS his reports were edited into INSIDE RED CHINA & distributed as part of THE SPECIAL OF THE WEEK TV Series. Highlights of this unique film include: Beijing, Guandong, Shanghai, The Great Wall, Yangtze River, Nanking University, Changchung Auto Plant, Slum & Sampan dwellers, Modern Hospitals & Ancient Acupuncture, Co-op Farms, Chairman Mao Tze Tung, Premier Chou En-Lai, & former Cal Tech & MIT rocket expert Dr. Chen Tzu-Fen, ending with the million marcher National Day Parade before the Forbidden City & its giant fireworks finale. Today, with foreign tourists & businessmen able to visit a China rapidly filling with modern factories & cities, INSIDE RED CHINA provides a rare & valuable insight into that vast nation's tumultuous past. AUDIENCE: Concerned citizens & students of History, Communism, Journalism, Economics, Sociology, Communications, Political & Military Science, International Relations, Asian Studies