Department of History

In the strange and barren landscape of Yanan, a world away from the glitter of Shanghai, a young Mao Zedong and his followers lived in caves, planning a devolution that would change history. For the first time, Western filmmakers have been allowed to visit the "yellow earth" of Yanan to learn the secret history of the Chinese Communist Party. CHINA RISING tells how the communists regrouped after the Long March, and how they planned the defeat of two enemies: the Japanese and the nationalists. In remarkable interviews, survivors remember the deadly, 6,000 mile March, which killed two out of three people. They also share their memories of the declaration of the People's Republic in Tiananmen Square and the many strange and tragic experiments of the early years of Communist China.