China in slogans
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2021
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary, Celia Hatton looks at how party slogans reveal the turbulent history of modern China. Throughout its existence, the party has used key slogans to communicate policy and mobilise the country's vast population. These messages reflect not just the ambitions of party leaders but also have a profound impact on the lives of millions. Using the BBC archive Celia examines the story behind eight key Communist Party slogans, from their early years as a guerrilla movement to the campaigns of China's current all-powerful leader Xi XInping.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and thank you for downloading China in Slogans from the BBC World Service with me Celia Hatton. |
| 0:06.0 | This podcast is about the power of words and the story of modern China |
| 0:11.0 | and how China's Communist Party has used slogans to shape the country. |
| 0:15.0 | Because as we'll find out, these slogans don't just reveal the ambitions of party leaders. |
| 0:20.0 | They also have a profound impact on the lives and futures of hundreds of millions of people. |
| 0:26.0 | For 15 years I lived in China working as a journalist. On my beloved |
| 0:39.4 | my beloved sky blue bicycle I'd ride to and from work along the Capitol streets, gliding along |
| 0:45.3 | wide boulevards with special bike lanes, and then through narrow laneways |
| 0:49.7 | zipping past parents taking their children to school or grandma's |
| 0:54.2 | haggling over the price of vegetables. |
| 0:56.1 | And there was one thing that was impossible to ignore. |
| 1:00.4 | On my journey I'd see slogan after slogan. |
| 1:04.0 | Political messages printed on red banners, billboards, |
| 1:08.0 | and ultimately massive electronic screens that rotate through several slogans |
| 1:12.0 | one after another. |
| 1:14.0 | Aigwok, Chong-Cin, Bau-Wong, holle, patriotism, innovation, inclusiveness, virtual. |
| 1:23.0 | Jans Shrü Kuchehui-Michin uphold |
| 1:26.0 | uphold science, eradicate superstition. |
| 1:29.0 | Bongsai Tienbong, |
| 1:31.0 | long, long-sai Tienkia. |
| 1:32.0 | The Pass to the Dream is under your feet. |
| 1:35.0 | And it's not just in the cities. |
... |
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