Department of History

For centuries, China has been a country of many walls. The Great Wall of China is the most recognized wall in the world. Today, as the world becomes more global, China, the "land of the dragon," once shrouded in mystery, has become a serious world power, facing new ideas and challenges. This classic documentary serves two purposes. First, it documents the historic United Nations Fourth world Conference on Women, which occurred in Beijing in 1995,one of the most noted speeches was given by then First Lady, Hillary Clinton, and called the "womens Rights are Human Rights\' Speech." For present day use, the program also offers an eye-opening look at the country and politics of China as a whole, using walls as a symbolic metaphor. Walls can separate what is within and what is without , the known from the unknown; the sacred from the profane. Through an historical and psychological lens the program tracks the suppression of the feminine from dynastic times through the Communist of the foot-binding ritual endured by Chinese women; of Mao Tse-tung(Zedong) who became the leader of the Chinese National Party in 1949; and of the protest of 1989, when students built the Goddess of Democracy, a statue which was crushed by soldiers in the assault on Tiananmen Square that ended the Democracy Movement. Also five songs written by Yoko Ono help to underscore the message of the program.