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The Monday Documentary: China - Shaking The World

The Documentary: China - Shaking The World: Episode 1

Episode 1

China - Shaking The World

BBC World Service - The Documentary, China - Shaking The World, Episode 1

The political, cultural and economic impact of China's rise to superpower status.

Michael Robinson returns to China to assess the prospects and problems of the unrelenting shift of power from West to East.

"China," Napoleon is believed to have once said, "is a sleeping giant. When she awakes, she will shake the world."

China endured decades of occupation, division and international isolation since that 19th Century warning. When it finally opened to the rest of the world, foreign money and expertise flooded in.

Now - little more than a generation later - China is poised to overtake Japan to become the world's second largest economy. 

Its unprecedented growth in exports has left it holding more foreign currency than any other nation - financial power which China is beginning to use to challenge the US dollar's long-standing dominance as the medium of international trade.

Money and expertise are now flowing in the other direction - from China to the rest of the world. China's economic resurgence has lifted hundreds of millions from poverty and helped the Communist Party maintain its authority and control - but potential dangers lie ahead.

Internally, there's a housing and construction bubble which some warn could burst, spreading problems far beyond China's borders. 

Outside the country there are threats of trade sanctions from recession-hit America, where many accuse China of manipulating its currency to gain an unfair advantage. Also, increasing competition for the resources vital to China's continued growth risk further international tension.

This documentary series examines the political, economic and cultural mechanisms of China's growing global influence. 

Michael Robinson, who documented China's awakening for the BBC almost 20 years ago, returns to assess the prospects and problems of the unrelenting shift of power from West to East.

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