Customer Reviews

Wild China [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the best documentaries about China today. It shows the diverse topography, flora, and fauna of the most geographically and ethnically diverse countries in the world. It also focuses on the little known and long-standing efforts by China to preserve it's environment, delicate ecological systems and unique animal life. The photography is breathtaking and the extra effort to show rarely seen areas of China are amazing. I have traveled all over China and this documentary shows the land as it truly is. For people who would like a glimpse into this remarkable land and it's people, this documentary is an excellent choice.

I have to agree with the previous reviewer that said: "It also focuses on the little known and long-standing efforts by China to preserve it's environment, delicate ecological systems and unique animal life." There's an example, in almost every episode, of conservation by the Chinese people, and this is not new. One of my favorites is the scene of Chinese people riding some distances on their bicycles with their birdcages strapped behind them, so they could hang all the little cages on trees so the birds could all talk to each other and not be lonely. Just recently, in the big earthquake (not this morning's, the one before) one of China's famous Giant Pandas 'Mau Mau' died when a wall collapsed on her. The keepers cried at her grave and she had a real funeral. While there is nothing quite so dramatic in this series, it is nice to see this side of the Chinese people at least alluded to.

Not mentioned in the last few reviews is the wonderful narration provided by Bernard Hill (captain of 'The Titanic'; King Theoden of Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings'). I was happy to see his wonderful voice put to such good use, and he even gets to keep his British accent!

This is truly an incredible documentary. I knew that there were both marvelous animals and picturesque natural beauty in China, but never like this. Each episode [8 in total, viewing time of 377 minutes]makes you gape in awe at both the vastly diverse environments, animals and human tribes that make China their home.

This by the far the best documentary for your money,23 dollars that has 6 hours of documentary! might not rival to planet earth in term of depth or rival gapagos picture quality, but anyway this is great documentary regardness, this is not your typical china documentary, you won't find forbidden city or other public well know sight, but isntead this more focus at the nature beauty landscape and landmark of China, which only native chinese know, example many of the scene of the wild china are never show in tv anywhere especially not in the west, only tourism will goes to those place, this mean it actualyl gave you a trip to china really, is that good. Also this one has large coverage of the popular china icon animal panda, which i sure please many, included coverage of tibet, most people think tibet as a religion and very harz place to live , but is far more than that and is very important for the survival of human kind. This does coverage of daily peopel lives but is balance with equal animal and nature coverage.

July 16th, 2008:
This series has just recently been shown on CBC in HD here in Canada. I only watched 2 of the 7 part series due to schedule conflict. What can I say, BBC has done it again after their masterpiece Planet Earth. It portraits the natural beauty, the special animal species, and the people who live in harmonization, in various parts of China. Some of the scenes, according to the narrative, are the first time being shot. From the 2 episodes I watched, Wild China has some of the most stunning images and the picture quality is superb. I was so thrilled to see most of the things I have never seen either in person or on TV/Moive, even though I was originally from that country.
Now I am going to buy it off Amazon and will put it along side of Planet Earth as my permanent collection.

September 13th. 2008:
Regrettably, I have to agree with some of the reviewers that the Blu-ray production is a letdown! Comparing to the original TV series I saw, the color is not as vivid, the image drifts in and out of focus leaving one wonders whether it is really HD. And the voice of narrative is boring, I like the CBC version much better with Canadian TV host/environmentalist David Suzuki. It is very disappointing that such an amazing HD program came out to blu-ray like this.

I therefore downgraded my original rating from 5 to 3.

I had originally come across some of these episodes on the Travel Channel, right before the Beijing Olympics. Once I saw a couple of the episodes, I knew I had to get the DVD set. It was just jaw-dropping, breath-takingly beautiful. The scenery is straight out of the traditional Chinese 'mountain-water' paintings, the animals were amazing, and the overall presentation was just classy-ly done. And to those who would love to have Chinese friends and family watch and enjoy, there are indeed traditional Chinese subtitles. I can safely say this is worth every penny.

Very impressive, covers many aspects of China's diverse scenery, and informs the viewer in detail. Missing is the usual commentary from David Attenborough that had accompanied many previous nature shows. The new chap does a good job though.

I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could, it loses half a star for video quality. I feel there are a number of scenes that are a little fuzzy or soft/out of focus compared to Life on Earth and Galapagos. Other than that another classic, worth buying as you'll want to watch more than once.

This is basically a 6 hour view into the country of China.

As Americans it seems that we don't know much about one of the most populous countries on the planet. This series takes you through many of the regions, including the animals, the local people, and current struggles. The segments are broken down into 6 hour long chunks and includes a short 'how this was filmed'.

The discs really show off the potential of blu-ray, and immerse you into the areas. It also includes some never before seen animal footage. High recommended.

Wild China has been another great BBC production. I give it 4 stars just for photography and coverage.

I take away 1 star, because of the choice of narrator. Bernard Hill, speaks wonderful English, but struggles pronouncing the many Chinese locations, provinces and towns. It would have been absolutely wonderful if BBC had chosen a narrator that could articulate the proper Chinese pronunciations. Just as they had for Ganges with Sudha Bhuchar.

An extremely worthy companion the Planet Earth, Ganges and The Blue Planet.

I loved this 2-disk Blu-ray DVD. The camera work is excellent, and the insight into the lives of rural, working families and their environment in China was very thought provoking. A country of contrasts - the great way they pulled off the recent Olympics versus how the people in the rural countryside live (very much day-to-day subsistence living.

And the photography was typical high-end BBC work - must have taken them hundreds of hours of photography.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in life beyond Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzen and Hong Kong.