You're going to have to watch this beautiful, wide-ranging documentary through slightly gritted teeth.
On the one hand it's wonderful to see some amazing landscapes, footage of the dwarf Chinese alligator, the athletic François leaf monkey, men fishing with tame cormorants (pictured), giant salamanders, bats that hunt for fish, rare and ancient turtles, swifts nesting in people's living rooms, paddy fields that double as carp fish ponds, extraordinary caves, glistening waterfalls, incredible mountains and a peek at life for rural communities in China.
On the other hand you can't help feeling that this programme, "a full co-production with China Central Television in Beijing", may have other intentions. Approved by the authorities, it could be trying to reassure us that everything's fine and dandy in China when - on so many fronts - it clearly isn't.
So expect a polite and rather soft hour's-worth of often fascinating and unseen footage of an extremely beautiful and ancient country, its inhabitants and its wildlife. How you interpret the programme's intentions is up to you; it's very easy to get swept up in it though. Paul Strange
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