The documentary we watched in class about the history of China from the beginnings of China with Moa and continuing into the modern era. Throughout this development of China I learned a lot of facts about the development of communist China that I had not known before. For example, I did not realize the way even loyal party members were treated by Moa after the party was established an in motion. Moa imprisoned some of his closest friends, holding them until they died. He also overworked one of his fellow politicians when he had cancer and essentially killed him. This is scary because even if you were loyal to the party from the beginning one misstep could result in your demise. Another instance was the mass mobilization of peoples to kill sparrows and to mass produce raw metal for use in the factories. When these decrees were given, everyone went to work on these projects and it was just eye opening how willing people were to work together for the good of the country. These tasks although showing national spirit had bad results. The removal of the sparrows meant insects killed crops and the metal was mostly wasted in the makeshift smelts made by the Chinese in an attempt to melt down the metal. It was wonderful to gain a new appreciation for China through this documentary and the insight it gave to China’s development in a critical period.