THE EVERLASTING FORBIDDEN CITY (243)

15:00, Saturday 30th June, Thaw

This is the last of a 12-part series about the Forbidden City of the Chinese imperial dynasties, describing the original construction of the complex, the customs of the emperors and the art treasures held within its walls. This final part shows the major work of reconstruction that has taken place over the last 60 years to preserve the art and architecture of the palace, and in so doing turn it into a major cultural heritage centre that attracts tourists from all over the world. With Zhao Xiaoding, nominated for an Oscar for Flying Daggers, in charge of cinematography and Zhou Bing, a very experienced film-maker from China Central Television as senior director, the technical and artistic standards of the film are extraordinarily high, matching in their grandeur and ambition the achievement of the thousands of craftsmen who over the centuries created this remarkable collective work of art.

Zhou Bing is currently acting as the secretary-general of the Commission of Documentary Film in China. His career began when he graduated as an editor from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1991 and then worked for a period for the Lan Zhou provincial television station. In 1993, he joined Chinese Central Television and worked on a long-running series about leading Asian artists and intellectuals, including the celebrated Chinese anthropologist, Fei Xiaotong. Since 1999, he has worked as a producer-director and his principal duty has been to oversee the 100-episode series about the Forbidden City. But he has also made other documentary series on such varied subjects as the Chinese resistance to the Japanese occupation and Chinese opera.