This is China Series
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Zhangjiajie Park: Head In The Clouds Or The Sky At Your Feet. Bai people’s timeless rural idyll in the dreamy landscapes that inspired the Avatar movie
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Etiquette Of Giving. The good Chinese gift-giving guide, from dragons to coffins
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Living Desert. The locals revitalising Inner Mongolia’s Kubuqi Desert
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Delivery in 24 hours. From delivery guys to robots, China’s automated package delivery revolution
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Tibet: Dreams Come True. How Tibet’s yak herders live better but still hold onto their culture
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Shenzhen to Zhongshan. Bridge to the Future . China building incredible Shenzhen-Zhongshan bridge and tunnel crossing Pearl River
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City of The Phoenix. A great day out in China’s prettiest old town in Yunnan province
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Shougang Olympic Park . The construction of the advanced Olympic facility in China
Etiquette Of Giving. The good Chinese gift-giving guide, from dragons to coffins
Over the centuries, the Chinese have turned gift-giving into a fine art. An infinite variety of decorative techniques, used to make exquisite objects from jade statuettes to red carved lacquer boxes or cloisonné-inlaid enamel vases, have developed in order to satisfy Chinese society’s quest for the perfect gift.
The choice of gifts for foreign dignitaries is particularly fraught. Unique artifacts are specially commissioned and designed for each occasion. Symbolism is particularly important in Chinese culture, and so the choice of décor is a diplomatic message in its own right.
RTD goes behind the scenes to discover what goes into making the ultimate Chinese gift. During a visit to the Chinese Arts and Applied Crafts Corporation in Beijing, its designers explain how they handle the task of choosing a personalized design for an anonymous recipient, while its craftspeople painstakingly make their clients’ most ambitious dreams come to life in record time.
It’s also an opportunity to find out why a full-size dragon may be too forward as a friendly overture, while a tour of the corporation’s museum yields the backstory to some historic gifts to American Presidents. Meanwhile, as entrepreneurs Chzhi Min and Chzhan Huey stroll through their mind-blowing contemporary art collection, they provide an object lesson into picking the appropriate gift for a business partner, or… your mother-in-law.
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27:282071724 July 2017 00:00
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27:30141521 April 2020 18:13
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25:2690121 September 2015 00:00
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27:025532702 March 2016 00:00
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27:43277411 August 2017 00:00
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24:48440528 September 2018 00:30