Share your views on China after having seen the history rich country through the programme's characters' eyes.

in china, in fact all the whole world, parent allways demands their child to carry on their unconsummated ambitions, more or less. It a pity that I did not see jinyang in the list of current national team. it means that she might have no hope to ajion olypic games next year.

I understand why people are concerned about kids being trained since so young. But yes, Like Jyll said, these kids also have regular education so they can go on pursue other possibilities.

I have a friend who was recruited to play badminton when he was very young. He did very well in the sport, won several championships at various games. But he liked school - so he went to college, and then graduate school in Shanghai, and now he has almost finished his doctoral degree here in the US.

I was reading the US forums on Atlas apparently these children go to like a "sports-centric" school, but they also have regular education, so if they don't actually make it into the team then they will still be able to join mainstream society.

So fingers crossed for her. From the amount of people talking about her, she seems to be the most unforgettable character in Atlas China and it is certainly rare to be able to bring such emotions out in a documentary about an entire country. =) Kudos to Discovery for achieving that.

I also loved that it wasn't being patronising at all, but portrayed all the different aspects of modern China whether it's good or bad.

Didn't like the window cleaner's dad though... his son risks his life on high buildings cleaning windows and his dad is talking about buying a car when they have enough saved?! Maybe something that is an asset rather than an expense would be a better choice? Afterall his son can't work as a window cleaner forever.

quote:

Originally posted by Jyll:
I was a bit surprised when I watched the story about Jin Yang. She was recruited into the potentially Olympics training team while she was still in childcare?! I wonder if other countries do the same. But it seems like her whole future has been pre-planned for her from when she's still in her diapers. Which is I guess both an honour (from a country perspective) but quite sad too from a freedom perspective.

At least she made it somewhere in life. You or I will probably never get anywhere close to competing for the Olympics hey? heh. That said, I'd actually be more interested in what happens to those who don't make it. Will they just "fade from existence"?