Home / Series / Correspondent / Aired Order / Season 1998 / Episode 15

City on the Brink

Chongqing, now China's most densely populated city, is undergoing drastic upheaval. Once the centre of Chairman Mao's armaments industry, its factories are now crumbling and its socialist institutions are in decline. A new faith in market forces has led to a huge disparity in the distribution of wealth and a surge in crime - situation far removed from the egalitarian society envisaged by Mao. The Liaos, once Red Army guards and now affluent restaurateurs, represent a new class of self-made capitalists. But single mother He Xiaoxia has lost her livelihood and, along with millions of other jobless Chinese, faces a bleak future. Isobel Hilton meets the rich and poor of Chongqing in a report exposing the human face of China's "economic miracle".

English
  • Originally Aired July 18, 1998
  • Runtime 45 minutes
  • Network BBC Two
  • Created August 6, 2025 by
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  • Modified August 9, 2025 by
    AddingStuffIsFun