Ole Schell has filmed a documentary on “Win in China,” a reality show in which competitors showcase their entrepreneurial savvy and business knowledge to vie for prize money. Dustin Wright from The China Beat spoke with Schell about his new film:
DW: What trends in Chinese society really stood out when you were filming this documentary?
OS: Aside from the obvious trends of almost everyone being an entrepreneur and the streets of every major city being lined with construction cranes as far as the eye can see, several things indeed stood out:
The businessman is the new icon. I saw some of these guys mobbed like rock stars by young people with business plans and dreams. You go to any highway and images of the entrepreneurs as the hero on billboards have replaced imagery of Chairman Mao and glorified images of workers. If you look at the new CCTV building in Beijing or look at the view from the Bund in Shanghai, you see how modern parts of China are. It’s frightening to see just how far the West is falling behind.
Charles Custer from ChinaGeeks has also posted a review of the documentary on his website:
The subtitle I took as pretentious [”the story of China’s entrepreneurial revolution”] is actually pretty fair, especially if you change “the” to “a”. The film isn’t extremely deep or entirely comprehensive, and it shouldn’t be. It would be a disaster if it was. It definitely is “a story of China’s entrepreneurial revolution,” and a rather compelling one at that. It was enough to tear me away from my test grading pretty quickly, and it’s worth watching for anyone interested in the Chinese economy but unfamiliar with the TV show “Win in China”. In fact, given that I found it interesting, it might even be worth watching for those who aren’t interested in the Chinese economy.
See also this past CDT post for clips from the film.
