The Bear And The Dragon (1969)a

1949 Madame Chongqaek speaks. Russia will never know one day of peace in China. Russia will never own China. The China of old is today only dimly remembered. And yet ancient China was once the greatest nation on earth. In the 3rd century BC, 3 million Chinese labored for 20 years to build the Great Wall. 1600 years later, Marco Polo traveled to Ping to serve in the court of Kubla [Music] Khan. Then it began the decline and fall of imperial China. Hostile, suspicious, isolated, the country clung to its ancient ways while the old world and the new moved into and through the industrial revolution. [Music] Entering the 20th century, China is a restless nation seeking change, demanding new leadership. It finds both in Dr. Sunyat Sen. In 1911, he leads a people's revolt that overthrows China's corrupt system of emperors and dynasties. When Sunyatsen dies in 1925, he is mourned as the George Washington of the Chinese Republic. Chongqa-shek succeeds Dr. Sun and sets out to complete the reunification of the troubled [Music] land. In a remote mountain province, a man of the soil, Maetong challenges Chong's leadership. A founder of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao believes that the ultimate power in China belongs to the peasants who make up 80% of the country's population. [Music] And so says Maetong, China's communist revolution must take root in the countryside and then sweep over the [Music] cities. For 10 years, Mao and his followers live as outlaws, hunted, pursued, harassed. Finally, the Red Leader begins his legendary long march in search of sanctuary in the caves of Yaan. These remarkable and historic motion pictures document the incredible hardships of the 6,000mi journey. A tortuous roundabout route crossing 18 mountain ranges, some of them higher than the European Alps. In the beginning, there are 180,000 marchers in the communist caravan. But casualties are enormous. Three out of every four marchers die on route. [Music] The survivors press on and Mao himself is on hand to welcome them. There are only a handful of communists in the mountain sanctuary, but they will grow and multiply, reach out and conquer. For Chung Kaishek and nationalist China, the sands of time are running out. And yet the nation, its cities, and its people reflect little of the unrest and uncertainty that cast their shadows from within and without. Shanghai, 1937. The blow falls. Japan [Music] strikes. Life and death struggle. Chung Kaishek embraces an old enemy, Maong, as a new ally. [Music] Publicly, Mao pledges his support to the nationalists, but privately, he orders his followers to work for Chong's overthrow. Red soldiers march into battle with propaganda posters on their backs. And as the war goes on, Mao's army grows from 40,000 to 1 million men. In 1945, Japan surrenders. China has won the war, but she will lose the freedom that she fought for eight years to defend and [Music] preserve. Postwar China is a nation ravaged by battle. People eat grass. Hunger and misery are deeply etched in every face. Now is the time for Maetong to launch his so-called war of national liberation. The communist forces are armed with captured Japanese equipment stockpiled in Manuria and seized with Russian assistance. Mao's conquest of the Chinese mainland begins with his followers gaining control of the rural areas. [Music] Then one by one the major cities are surrounded and isolated, engulfed and occupied. Mukden falls on October 30th 1948. Ping on January 22nd 1949. Shanghai May 25th 1949. Canton October 15th 1949. [Applause] and Chungqing. November 15th, 1949. Finally, all of mainland China is overrun by Mao's conquering armies, and 1/4 of the world's population is brought under communist [Music] control. Maoong has done in four years what the Japanese could not do in 14. The Red Leader and his legions march in triumph into the old nationalist capital of Shanghai. [Applause] And on October 1st, 1949, Mao proclaims a new capital city, P King, and a new communist state, the People's Republic of China. There is a new giant in the communist camp, a new voice to be listened to and reckoned with. Mao's words and thoughts are carried out without question or objection. He orders a great leap forward in agriculture and men and women from 14 to 50 are organized into communes. The results are disastrous. Farm production instead of going up goes down. Famine is widespread. Millions die. [Music] Mao needs financial and technical assistance and so he goes to Moscow. At first, all is harmony between the dragon and the bear. Mao receives the red carpet treatment and his country holds a favorite place in the community of Russian satellites. It is not long before the two giants sign a 30-year treaty of friendship, alliance, and assistance. Each country promises not to join any coalition against the other, and both agree to consult regularly on matters of mutual concern. Chinese industrial planners are soon shuttling back and forth between Piking and Moscow to seek and to receive technical advice and financial assistance. Together, the dragon and the bear control the lives of more than 1 billion people, one out of every three persons living on the earth. But as the years go by, Red China sees itself not as a satellite, but as an equal partner and an independent spokesman for world [Music] communism. Then in 1956, a dramatic development brings the dragon and the bear into open conflict. Nikita Krushch denounces Joseph Stalin Baong's longtime idol and proclaims a new communist concept of peaceful coexistence with a free world. Maong denounces the Krushche doctrine. The Chinese leader and the men who speak for him attack the Soviet premier as a traitor to the basic communist doctrine of violent world revolution. [Music] In 1963, SinoS Soviet relations become even more strained when Russia suddenly proposes east west talks on a limited nuclear test ban treaty. Agreement is reached within a week on ending atomic testing in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater. Secretary of State Rusk signs for America. Foreign Minister Bliko for Russia and Foreign Secretary Lord Hume for Great Britain. Red China denounces the treaty and attacks the Soviet Union as a turncoat and a betrayer of the revolutionary spirit. Storming the Russian embassy in Piking, Chinese red guards drive an even deeper wedge between the dragon and the bear. The demonstrations are so violent, the feelings so intense that the families of embassy personnel must be sent home to [Music] [Applause] Moscow. Next comes trouble on the SinoS Soviet border, a disputed frontier that stretches for more than 4,000 m between the dragon and the bear. [Music] This line shows the extent of China's territory before the various conquests of the Zars. China remembers this land as hers. Russia does [Music] not. It is perhaps the greatest amount of territory ever lost by one nation to another. And to heighten the problem, China with half the area of Russia has three times its population. [Music] In search of a solution, Premier Kosigan comes to pay king. But he apparently is no more successful than Nikita Kushchoff in healing the breach between the dragon and the bear. Confrontations on the border now become more numerous and explosive. In these timely and exclusive motion pictures from behind the bamboo curtain, the Screen News Digest provides a graphic glimpse of an angry incident involving a Russian patrol boat and several Chinese fishermen on the Usuri River. The films with their Chinese titles record the intensity of the disputes on the border. [Music] [Applause] A million and a half Soviet troops are reported on the Sino frontier, and tensions and incidents have repeatedly erupted into bloodshed. Here, Chinese demonstrators confront, shout at, and advance on Russian troops on the Amor River. Once again, according to the Chinese commentary, the Soviets are trying to drive the Chinese fisherman from a river [Music] island. When an armored personnel carrier attacks the fisherman, they strike back at the vehicle with wooden sticks. In the confusion, the commentary says four fishermen are run over and crushed to death in the snow. [Music] [Applause] The Russians are again denounced by Mount Maung and Lin Pia, his air apparent. The Soviet troops, they say, are revisionist fascist [Music] bandits. It is 20 years since the People's Republic of China was first proclaimed with the blessings and support of the Soviet Union. Today, Maung is in his 70s and reportedly in failing health. What the future holds for Russia and China, no one knows. But millions of people everywhere are waiting to see and to learn who in the communist world is truly number one, the dragon or the [Music] bear, to widen your horizons, to stimulate your interest in things going on about you. The Capital Coca-Cola Bottling Company has presented the Screen News Digest as a public service. [Music]