They Chose China
Oscar nominated filmmaker Shuibo Wang aims his camera at the astonishing story of 21 American POWs who, after the Korean War ended, chose to live in China instead of returning the USA.
Using rare archival footage, excerpts from American and Chinese TV programs, as well as period and contemporary interviews, They Chose China chronicles the fascinating history of this group of young Americans who were hailed in China as "peace fighters" and denounced in America as "turncoats" and "traitors."
U.S. media claimed that these young POW's had been "brainwashed" by the Chinese communists. The film shows conditions inside these Chinese camps, featuring never-before-seen footage, plus contemporary interviews with some of the camps' Chinese translators, instructors, lecturers, and officers.
A movie entitled "They Chose China" made by a guy "who chose Canada" and his major achievement cited by Chinese media is an Oscar nomination for this movie in which he saying US threatened "his country" which the director abandoned with his own free will. Use footage from Chinese communist propaganda film without questioning and picture China as a paradise in early 1950s (BTW, at the same time, a man-made famine starved millions of Chinese to death and the director did not mention it but vaguely put the blame on Soviet Union). One fact is that there are 21 American choosing China but there were more than 14,000 Chinese choosing Taiwan after Korean War. Not sure if the director will consider these Chinese heroes. It is very easy to find Chinese patriots outside China who furiously defended their motherland's image and cannot wait to be naturalized at the same time.
Why the 21 Americans chose China? After watching the video, you get an impression that the American media and politicians were primitive, one dimensional and extreme. All they knew to do was accusing others of being turncoats, traitors, weaklings, reds and commies. On the other hand, the Chinese were trying to understand the soldiers and treated them as young students to be equipped with logical thinking and scientific methods. Look how well Hawkins and Adams could articulate their points and offer insight in world events. Mike Wallace sounded like a simpleton who only knew to stick labels, while Hawkins accurately foretold the rise of China and the need for China-US cooperation. Hawkins had more foresight than most Americans back in 1957. It showed the effectiveness of the Chinese education system.
This was a really great documentary. The narrator is dry, and initially this is why I avoided it after tuning in for a couple minutes. But stick with it, it's great.
It touches on a lot of big themes but still remained a human story. That's what I really enjoyed about it, you have all these Cold War backdrops, the politics, the security fears, the culture clash and so on...(I also like how they said "converted to Communism"...made me chuckle) but with the human side to it all. Actual people who lived in what news headlines would point out as a peculiar circumstance of the Cold War.
They chose to stay in China because they co-operated with the Chinese/North Korean jailers and would have rightly faced military justice if they returned to the USA
An earlier form of Bradley Manning. Great doco!
1i
Too few Americans have passports, as they are not all that interested in visiting other cultures. They are therefore more vulnerable to the propaganda churned out by the American state. And the more the state's international influence decreases, the more propaganda it has to produce. So Chavez is a dictator and the Venezuelans, who are largely happy with him, are the victims of brainwashing. China is a commie police state, and all Chinese are at high risk of victimization by China's lack of human rights.
But given the last five years of economic hardship, the last 12 years under the PATRIOT Act, a totally dysfunctional federal government, increasing episodes of gun violence, the surliness of their border police and Homeland Security types at airports the US looks a lot less attractive than the countries it loves to badmouth.
It's been several years since I've been to China, but I would definitely go there again. Soldiers' attraction to it is understandable, as China has no interest in war. They're focused on making money, and seem to be enjoying that.
I was a child when all this happened, but old enough to be aware of what was going on. I remember the uproar about the "turncoats" at the time, and I always wondered what happened to them. It was not a pleasant time in the good old USA, with McCarthy and his red-baiting buddies riding high, and it was particularly bad for minorities. I can about understand why these men made the decisions they did.
This subject sounded so interesting, but to my disappointment the narrator was as dry as toast, he had no expression while he droned on and on to old grainy footage. Yawn.
I only lasted 5 minutes.
It is sad that we are so judgemental and condeming of peoples and cultures that we do not understand, instead of taking to trouble to learn more before we take sides and form opinions
'They shouldn't have let any of those turncoats back into The United States.'
This is a very stupid comment.
They shouldn't have let any of those turncoats back into The United States.
I really enjoyed the story since my dad was in the korean war and was wounded but not captured. It gave me a chance to see what he went through. Looking back on the history of the early 50's in America i can certainly see why some GI's chose to stay, particularly several black men from the south ... after all they were still being killed here for just being black in the south. I spent 3.5 years in Korea and so understand the hospitality of the asian culture, I was treated always as a family member by everybody I met ... even when I did not deserve it.
Am an elected socialist for the socialist party here in brussels and allergic to redneck dumbness (socialists make porsches and bmw's lol) so don't go blab how i'm some right winged wanker. But still i'd like to make clear that this docu is staged crap. There's a lot of crap on this site lately btw. Hardly visit it anymore.
chinese don't understand democracy or free market, they are thieves and counterfeiters, a society of kitsch
Very beautiful and very human story.
David Hawkins is quite intelligent and foreseeing. The elephant analogy is becoming true now after all.
Good documentary, but don't be confused, the cultural revolution gutted most of the "friendliness" out of the Chinese. I don't think they would have just stood around and watched back then when someone gets stabbed, run over by a car, involved in an accident, etc, as they do today.
believe the word 'turncoat' was used more than twice. it was as if every mid-century reporter/narrator/politician/what-have-you only had one concept amongst them to to fathom why a person might choose a different path.
not indicative of a free-thinking people, was it? is it? we're different now on the accidentals, but still very conformist at bottom.
we still don't look very deep, we are still disinclined to understand social ideas, much less those others who entertain ideas on the subject much different than our 'own'.
like mr. ross' comment as to the remaining 'socialist' regimes devolving into oligarchies not much different from the west. convergent evolution.
This documentary truly changed my life. As a child of the Cold War, taught to fear communism - the truths undeniable in this priceless documentary should be seen by anyone fearing the inevitible rise of China in the world.
No surprise to those who have already worked out that the best and worst of humanity is present in every race and culture - all the same I shall be posting this link 'till my little Western fingers hurt.
It occurs to me watching this - that something went wrong with all ideologies in the 1960's - were there a lot of solar flares or something?
This is strange. The doc was removed (will be re-posted) although it is not copyrighted.
FreeSpeechTV Channel on YouTube (independent television network) decided to remove it from their library. I don't know the reasons but it is suspicious.
Anyways since it is originally NFB documentary, it'll be embedded from their official site.
I don't believe that documentary information, whether of questionable content or not, should be considered as property to be used to gain wealth, or should be censored. My original comments (see below) on China in general prompted my Chinese wife to point out that it's not so clear cut as I imagine. So I want to add a few comments to balance out the record. However, I can't do this for a few days, and in the meantime the doc has been removed!
But I have a copy here and will upload it to this site as soon as I can. I'm behind the Great Firewall of China, internet is not so open. Otherwise I can share it through Dropbox. Give me a few days. I have no idea who "owns" this documentary and why someone removed it, anyone got any idea of what happened? Incidentally, I'm not pro Chinese govt, Communism or any other form of Government, in my book, they are all corrupt and cater only to the wealthy few. China can not by any stretch of the imagination be considered as a "Communist" country, it's more like a capitalist country with leadership beyond the influence of the people, in that way it's indistinguishable to USA, and the UK, Australia etc. who only have the facade of democracy.
It's instinctual to choose life when your survival is threatened. This subconscious decision will be consciously justified by whichever means possible.
For those inspired by the Chinese Communism, just consider the question of why there are more Chinese immigrants all over the world than vice versa if their lives in China were as idyllic as portrayed.
It was clever politics and effective advertising to treat well, "above the average Chinese", the POWs as Western mouthpieces.
It's fascinating and cute though that most of the Chinese speaking POWs spoke Mandarin in quite a thick local accent. (I am from Taiwan, but grew up in NZ, and can speak the language). It's good to see the locals and the POWs forging genuine friendship.
Communism can seem an attractive ideology to the naive. One vital flaw however is assuming equality = equal entitlement. Think about this for a moment. Forced equal resource allocation will lead to resentment and ultimately collapse of the system.
The success of communism in China and almost no where else (except the desolated North Korea behind the iron curtain) I think resides in the stamina and adaptability of Chinese people. After some 5000 years of periodic power shifts in dozens of dynasties, civil wars, republics change-hands in quick successions has made the Chinese well adapted survivors to changing political arena wherever they are placed, and cultivated a people that tended to be inwardly cynical of any religion/political systems alike. Just look at how well capitalism has flourished in China!
They (we) have got one thing right though -- education and financial independence is key to individual success.
And for that, the Chinese shall rise.
thats why I HATE western Media , I know the republicans dont gonna like this but REALY THIS ARE FACTS i know now where my love for Chine came from sjie sje njie China I love you , even I am South American
Bye the Way Vietnam was a huge mistake too we know that now , before the western media declare it as a holy war
Thank you.What blew my mind was the Olympic games they had. The documentary should be shown in all schools, in the west.
Bought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. So good to watch. I was very impressed how the Chinese treated their prisoners, I never knew the Chinese treated them so well. I have always heard about Burma, Japan. Germany, Singapore that the prisoners were treated so bad. An enlightening documentary. Thank you.