This is actually a pretty balanced presentation of the last four decades or so of burgeoning economic progress in the PRC, with plenty of caveats and a clear awareness of the potential pitfalls of combining a market-driven, low-regulation, growth-oriented and globally engaged economy with the heavy-handed governance approach that comes of the one party rule Deng Xiaoping inherited from the tragically failed, ideology-driven era of Maoism.
Does the program's predominantly optimistic tone combined with the pleasant, sunny demeanor of the main presenter, popular British historian Michael Wood, and the dearth of attention given to the often brutal de facto political tyranny of the CCP elite -- not to mention the emerging personality cult of current PRC President Xi Jinping -- comprise "propaganda?" As seen from here, the answer is no -- the focus is on the topic at hand, which is not the supposedly intrinsic excesses and limitations of one-party rule, but rather on explaining the factors that contributed to one of the world's oldest civilizations achieving remarkable success via favoring Deng's pragmatism over Mao's fanatical ideological devotion.
Does the program's predominantly optimistic tone combined with the pleasant, sunny demeanor of the main presenter, popular British historian Michael Wood, and the dearth of attention given to the often brutal de facto political tyranny of the CCP elite -- not to mention the emerging personality cult of current PRC President Xi Jinping -- comprise "propaganda?" As seen from here, the answer is no -- the focus is on the topic at hand, which is not the supposedly intrinsic excesses and limitations of one-party rule, but rather on explaining the factors that contributed to one of the world's oldest civilizations achieving remarkable success via favoring Deng's pragmatism over Mao's fanatical ideological devotion.
