BBC Newsnight CHINA~ A Great Leap Forward? 2008 04 01 avi clip

BBC Newsnight CHINA~ A Great Leap Forward? 2008 04 01 avi clip

With Jeremy Paxman

262 mgs

24 mins

xvid

China's economy is, by any measure, a success story. Eleven per cent economic growth, rising wealth even among the poor and it's all set to be showcased spectacularly at the Olympics.

Amid the celebrations, it's hardly been acknowledged that this is the 50th anniversary of the Great Leap Forward - Chairman Mao's failed attempt to modernise China the first time round.

In Paul Mason's powerful presentation on China he asks what few in that country's media are prepared to: What are the parallels between then and now? We'll also be getting Lord Patten's analysis of how China is faring economically.

Fifty years on from Mao's Great Leap Forward, BBC Newsnight's Paul Mason finds a country haunted by fears of a financial bubble, environmental disaster and struggling to come terms with the political injustices of half a century ago.

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