GBH Openvault

Joyce Chen’s China

Approximate date: 1973

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Program

Joyce Chen’s China

Program Description

“Joyce Chen’s China with Helen and Stephen Chen”. Program chronicles Joyce Chen and her children’s visit to the People’s Republic of China in 1973.

From the May 1973 WGBH Program Guide: “We don’t ordinarily present home movies on television, but no apologies are needed in this case. Joyce Chen’s family trip to China represented a unique opportunity : to see the country that until last year remained a total mystery to almost all Americans, and to see it through the eyes of someone who grown up there-someone whose relatives still live there-as well as through the eyes of her children, who don’t share her memories. Following the film, Joyce, Helen, and Stephen Chen sit down to dinner to discuss their observations with John Kenneth Galbraith (Professor of Economics, Harvard University) and Newsweek’s Edward Klein (Foreign Editor, Newsweek magazine).”

The program is principally composed of footage shot in China by Stephen Chen who had taken a crash course in shooting 16mm film at WGBH prior to the trip. The journey by train included stops in Canton, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hang-chow, Peking, and Yading. Subjects filmed and discussed include: a visit to sandalwood fan factory, an embrodiery factory, Chinese cuisine, acrobats, schools, hospitals, open-air markets, dollmaking, radish harvesting, and visits to the Red Star Commune,an eldercare facility, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

Written by Mary Feldhaus-Weber; produced and directed by Fred Barzyk.

Duration

00:58:52

Asset Type

Broadcast program

Media Type

Video

Genres

Documentary

Topics

Travel

Citation

Chicago: “Joyce Chen’s China,” GBH Archives, accessed January 19, 2025, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_38DC37A9EB2F4E9589D9035EF73C87AD.

MLA: “Joyce Chen’s China.” GBH Archives. Web. January 19, 2025. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_38DC37A9EB2F4E9589D9035EF73C87AD>.

APA: Joyce Chen’s China. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_38DC37A9EB2F4E9589D9035EF73C87AD