A Documentary Worth Watching by All Chinese and Americans
2019/1/7 8:30:16 张鹏工作室

    

     People's suffering is often due to the ignorance and deception of politicians.

     Zhang Peng

     Better Angels is a documentary produced by Academy and Emmy Award winner Malcolm Clarke and famous film producer William Mundell. This film examines the relationship between the United States and China through the lives of ordinary people in both countries. It is expected to be released simultaneously in China and the United States in February 2019.

     Last night, the film's Director, Malcolm Clarke held an internal screening event in Shanghai. I had the privilege of attending this small gathering, watching the whole show, listening to Clarke's answers to the audience's questions, and talking with him.

     The film touched both Chinese and foreign audiences, including me. It has also changed some of my views on Sino-US relations, Sino-US trade wars and other issues.

     The film costs $2.5 million from the United States and Canada.

    

     The film came at the right time. Increasing tensions and tradewars between the United States and China are undermining economic growth around the world.

     Mundell said. "Maybe movies can change the dynamics of U.S.-China relations."

     Before becoming a film producer, Mundell was an economics professor at UCLA and his father was Robert Mundell, a Nobel Prize Winner in economics. Therefore, his documentary shows a profound understanding of economics. This makes me feel the same, because I am in business management, and very much advocate the concept of liberal economics.

     In making the documentary, Clarke interviewed former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin, the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong, Dong Chee-hua, and ordinary Chinese and Americans. He has filmed more than 700 hours of video.

     He said, "My movie is not about changing your brain, it's about touching your heart, because the latter is easier to remember." But I have to say that this film not only touched my heart, but also changed my brain.

     "I hope that when the Chinese watch the sequence, they cannot help but feel a great sense of pride. And when the Americans watch, they can have a chance to change the stereotype that Chinese investment will always lead to loss of jobs," Mundell said.

     From this film, I got the following impressions.

     There is no Chinese or American interest

     Politicians always like to use the concept of "national interest" to confuse people, for example, "Import tariffs on Chinese products are raised to protect the interests of the United States". But if you analyze it carefully, you will find that raising tariffs will benefit some Americans and hurt others. So what are the interests of the United States? There is no such a single concept.

     International relations are neither friends nor enemies

     Both China and the United States have a large number of people who like to regard the other country as either enemy or friend. Last night, in response to questions from the audience, Clarke said, "In the United States, you are either anti-Chinese or pro-Chinese. But I think both are extreme views”

     In fact, the relationship between countries is very complex, and it is impossible to define it by such a black-and-white definition. Different groups and individuals of the two countries cooperate at some levels, compete at other levels. In addition, the interests of the government and the people are not entirely consistent, and there are also different interests between different people and different enterprises. For example, in market competition, in some cases, we will regard our domestic company as a competitor and the other country's company as a partner, and this pattern may be reversed with the change of market competition.

     China always propagate itself in a wrong way

     Last night, in response to questions from the audience, Clarke said: "China does not know how to publicize itself to Westerners. Their methods are often offensive to Westerners, and the results are counter-productive.”

     I feel the same about it. This is because we Chinese do not understand Western values and aesthetics.

     One of the most typical examples is that China can publicize its "high efficiency of the authoritarian system".

     Clarke said he had filmed another set of scenes in the film, but cut them out for fear of deviating from the theme. The clip describes a brand new city in Beichuan, China, two years after the earthquake. However, some Florida cities damaged by Hurricane Katrina have not recovered in five years. It has to be said that authoritarian system is more efficient than democratic system sometimes.

    

     The people's needs are very simple.

     In a separate conversation with Clarke, I found that we shared the same view on China's entry into Africa. For example, the Chinese worker in Africa can work in such a difficult environment. He dose this not for national interests, nor for political goals, but for the better life of his family. The reason why Chinese people are willing to build bridges and roads in remote Africa is that they can endure hardships, take risks and take business that Westerners are not interested in at very low price. Clarke says Chinese workers can stay away from their famly for three years. But for Americans working in the same circumstance, they will need to fly back every two weeks to reunite with their families. So the cost of doing so by Americans is unacceptable to Africans.

     Summary

     After the movie, I had a conversation. I thanked him for this documentary, which will surely benefit the people of these two countries. I hope this film can change the hostile views between the two peoples, and then influence the politicians, so that they can make decisions beneficial to the people.

    http://weixin.100md.com
返回 张鹏工作室 返回首页 返回百拇医药