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The Tale of Two Chinas

The music from Chairman Mao’s era and the sound of posh coffee being brewed are two very different ways to start the day in China. Peter Day explores two contrasting enclaves.

It’s 6.15am and over loudspeakers across quiet streets of Nanjiecun blares out a sound more familiar during the days of Chairman Mao - a song called The East is Red. As the sun rises, a huge white statue of Chairman Mao - surrounded by four equally huge portraits of Lenin, Marx, Stalin and Engels - become visible in the town’s main square. This the last Maoist collective in China, a little enclave of the past in the socialist market economy that China has now developed. How does their economy work and what is it like to live there? Meanwhile, at 3W Coffee in Beijing’s Silicon Valley district entrepreneurs are queuing up for their early morning burst of caffeine. This is Beijing’s first tech business incubator where you’re catapulted to the China of the 21st Century, with young people pushing the boundaries of the internet to create a very different China to that of Mao 60 years ago.

Image: Maoist Square

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Wed 6 Nov 2013 15:32GMT

Contributors to this programme

Li Juanjuan – worker in Nanjiecun factory

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Liao Gaomin –? Nanjiecun resident

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Sheng Ganyu – Nanjiecun Maoist Commune Propaganda Chief

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Ella Bao

Co-Founder of 3W Coffee in Beijing

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Francis Kao

Co-Founder, 玩编程.com – PlayCoding

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Jacob Chen

Entrepreneur at 3W Coffee business incubator

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Ahmed al-Sayedi

Co-Founder of Amor

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Yang Licong

CEO, Xiuke.tv

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Broadcasts

  • Sun 3 Nov 2013 09:32GMT
  • Wed 6 Nov 2013 00:32GMT
  • Wed 6 Nov 2013 04:32GMT
  • Wed 6 Nov 2013 15:32GMT

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