00:02It is viewers like you that make videos like this possible. Please support mickeymousepark.com.
00:24American Journeys, a 25-minute documentary offering more slices of American life, alternated with an import from Walt Disney World,
00:32Wonders of China.
00:58Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Delta Airlines, I'd like to welcome you to CircleVision.
01:02In just a few moments, the doors will be opening automatically out towards you.
01:05When you enter the theater, please walk at all times and do not run.
01:09Those with strollers and wheelchairs, stand in the far left.
01:12Ladies and gentlemen, once again, on behalf of Delta Airlines, I'd like to welcome you to our CircleVision Theater.
01:16Due to the way this motion picture is presented, you may feel as if you are moving.
01:20Please be rest assured, nothing inside of our theater moves.
01:24However, if your sense of balance is affected, we have provided lean rails.
01:28These rails are not meant to sit on. They will not hold your weight or the weight of your children.
01:32We also ask that there is no smoking or flash photography during the entire show.
01:36And if for any reason during the film you do need to leave, please exit the doors on your far
01:41left.
01:42And now, Delta Airlines is proud to present Wonders of China.
02:10For countless centuries, the people of the world knew China only through what is13.
02:15through her paintings.
02:18The fantastic scenery and unusual landscapes
02:22are not the fanciful creation of artists,
02:27but the reality of China.
02:31Perhaps nowhere else on Earth does one country encompass
02:36such a diversity, from the vast Western wilderness
02:40of Xinjiang province, to the harsh deserts of Gansu.
02:54From the fabled mountains of Tibet, the roof of the world,
03:00to the tropical rainforest of Guangdong.
03:12I am Li Bai.
03:14I was a poet in the 8th century, the Tang dynasty.
03:19But that's not important now.
03:21I've come to show you modern China.
03:31These are the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.
03:35Well, traditions are very strong here,
03:40such as giving, passing strangers some tea.
03:44Chie chie.
03:49Oh, you go on here.
03:51I'll be right there.
04:25In my time, I travel all over China, and everywhere one sees our history.
04:33Have begun 24 centuries ago, the Great Wall once stretched like a dragon
04:42across the northern border of China.
04:49Now, like many other historical treasures,
04:53it is one of China's legacies of the past.
05:14For eight centuries, this dangerous intersection of three rivers has been guarded by a silent stone sentinel,
05:24the giant Buddha of Lesha.
05:26For eight centuries, this dangerous intersection of three rivers has been guarded by a silent stone sentinel,
05:30China has been dominated by a silent stone sentinel.
05:32China has a living legacy of her past,
05:35the classic Pink Green, Afra.
05:38Car-ni-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-l!
05:43Arrgh!
05:46Car-ni-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li!
05:57Arrgh!
06:18In the center of Beijing is perhaps the greatest legacy of China's imperial past, the forbidden
06:26city. For over 500 years, it was the center of the earth, and no one entered without the
06:40permission of the emperor. Since the declaration of the People's Republic, the forbidden city
06:47is no longer forbidden. Twenty-four emperors called the sons of heaven ruled from the dragon
07:00throne. When I first came here, I was overwhelmed by its sheer size. Today, it still has the
07:14power to humble. During the European Renaissance, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty built this
07:23wall city of six palaces and 9,000 rooms. How dramatic that moment must have been when the common
07:47people first entered these once hallowed grounds. Gone are the landlords, warlords, and emperors.
07:59It is now a special place for all Chinese.
08:17It is now a special place. Why do I live among the green mountains? I laugh, and answer
08:28not. My soul is serene. Why do I live among the green mountains? I laugh and answer not. My soul
08:33is now a special place for all Chinese. I laugh. My soul is a special place for all Chinese
08:36people. We have had a long history. Much of it has been recorded in this fashion. However,
08:44it may be said that the history of the Chinese people is not written in ink, but with water.
08:54water. At times too much, and sometimes not enough. It has been China's sorrow for ages.
09:17along the 3,000 miles of Yangtze River live and work one-tenth of the population of the world. They
09:26are no longer the servants of water, but its master.
09:57The rice terraces climb like a thousand steps up the mountain walls.
10:05The green fields stretch across the plain.
10:11All things pass with the east flowing river.
10:20Sujo, its very name means plentiful water.
10:26This 3,000 year old city sits on the Grand Canal, the largest man-made waterway in the world.
10:36Many travelers have passed this way.
10:40Marco Polo, for example, he once called Sujo the Venice of the East.
10:52I suppose if I had traveled to Europe, they would now call Venice the Sujo of the West.
11:08At the end of those east flowing rivers is one of the world's greater cities, Shanghai.
11:16Its European influences are unmistakable, but its vitality, variety, and sophistication are distinctly Chinese.
11:26It's easy.
11:27It's easy.
11:51It's easy.
12:01Ah, Shanghai, the city of cosmopolitan delights.
12:21Morning exercises along the West Lake make Hangzhou see worlds apart from Shanghai.
12:53I first made the difficult climb to the top of Huangshan during the Tang Dynasty.
12:59It hasn't changed. The formations, the solitude, the weather, all create a feeling of serenity.
13:16A poet of the Ming Dynasty once wrote,
13:19After seeing the five sacred mountains, ordinary mountains are nothing.
13:26After seeing Huangshan, the five sacred mountains are nothing.
13:46China is so vast that even within her borders there are distant lands.
13:51In the far northeast there is Heilungjiang. Winter here can last six months.
14:00Where others might curse the climate, these people celebrate.
14:18Far to the south is Yunnan province, where the Xilin stone forest is one of the unique works of nature.
14:27Here too is the homeland of one of China's national minorities, the Yi people.
14:52On the great western frontier lies the wilderness that is Xinjiang province.
15:09Its capital, Gurumuji, is so far from any ocean, it is the most inland city on earth.
15:34Tibet, a land that will forever seem timeless and remote.
15:40The Potala Palace dominates the city of Lhasa.
15:45The way Buddhism dominates Tibetan life.
15:49This 17th century palace of 1,000 ruins and 10,000 altars is the center of their religion.
16:13Living at the roof of the world, an altitude of 12,000 feet, the people endure a harsh lifestyle with
16:23determination and courage.
16:32Jiayuwan in Gansu province was once a way station on the ancient Silk Road.
16:41Oh yes, I almost forgot.
16:44Out here in the Gobi Desert, one also finds the extreme western end of the Great Wall.
16:53With its tail lying in the desert, the dragon's head lies thousands of miles to the east at Shanghai 1,
17:03where it drinks from the Bohai Sea.
17:25Oh yes, it's only me. I brought you to a place of unique beauty called Reed Flute Cave.
17:33The same forces that shaped these pillars of stone have done a more remarkable job directly above us.
17:51The landscape of Guilin is unsurpassed in all of China. Indeed, all the world.
18:15The unusual hills are limestone formations called cast.
18:23They were thrust upward from an ancient sea bed and then eroded by wind and rain.
18:31Whatever their origin, for centuries they have been the subject of countless artists and poets, like myself.
18:59The Lee River winds like a silver snake through scattered dragon's teeth.
19:06Whoever looks on this loses himself in eternity.
19:27Well, we have returned once more to Beijing, having seen the face of the land from both far and near.
19:36But there are other places to China.
19:50We are now at the Temple of Heaven, where we've come full circle.
19:58I wrote a poem many years ago. It's like this.
20:04This is the place where we must sever.
20:08You go thousands of miles, my friend, once forever.
20:12And like the floating clouds, we drift apart.
20:17The sunset lingers like the feelings of my heart.
20:40Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you enjoyed our presentation of Wonders of China.
20:43Now, please exit the doors on your left.
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