China: From Cartier to Confucius

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As the glistening Cartier sign, the visually arresting skyscrapers, and the shining BMWs and Ferraris scream out China’s unprecedented prosperity, the question confronting a young generation of Chinese who came of age during the period of rapid economic growth is an anxious one: Is this all there is?

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Researched and co-produced by Ying Zhu, “China: From Cartier to Confucius” follows a group of students at an elite Chinese university as they question the value of a market-fundamentalist developmental path China has embarked upon. Through the work of Confucius, this group of self-claimed cultural conservatives is exploring an alternative political and social system anchored on Chinese cultural tradition as opposed to the Marxist or Liberal Democratic model of Western origin.

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Author Bio

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Ying Zhu is professor emeritus at the City University of New York and director of the Center for Film and Moving Image Research in the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. The recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she is the author of four books including Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television and Hollywood in China: Behind the Scenes of the World’s Largest Movie Market (both from The New Press) and co-editor of six books including Soft Power with Chinese Characteristics: China’s Campaign for Hearts and Minds. She is the founder and chief editor of the peer-reviewed journal Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images. She resides in New York and Hong Kong.