Decoding China

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An award-winning documentary series has shone a light on some of the most troubling issues faced by the nation's leaders and people.

"To see China as it is, not as we wish or fear it to be" was the catch-cry of well-known US diplomat and China expert Charles W.Freeman, Jr.

But despite Freeman's visionary words, foreigners today are still wary of China’s goodwill, no matter how genuine.

While this may frustrate Beijing, old China hand Robert Kuhn believes it is not wise to simply cast blame or conjure conspiracies.

Kuhn, author of How China's Leaders Think and many other books, including a biography of former president Jiang Zemin, intends to depict China “as it is” showing showing China's candid acceptance of some of its most challenging problems.

He has delivered his observations in a five-part TV documentary series, China's Challenges, which aims to chronicle China's tremendous changes and show how the problems caused by these changes are shaping the lives and futures of more than 1 billion people.

But the program was not initially designed this way. Kuhn says the documentary was supposed "to honor the achievements of China's previous leaders".

The TV series is now being broadcast on PBS, a mainstream US station that is wary of airing anything that looks like government propaganda, a rare achievement for a Chinese-made program.

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.