Sue Williams’ three independent films about China, “China in Revolution: 1911-1949” from 1989, “The Mao Years: 1949-1976” from 1994 and “China: Born Under the Red Flag” from 1997, have been collected into one massive six-hour collection. There is nothing in this six hours that isn’t absolutely fascinating. From Dr. Sun Yat-Sen to the British handover of Hong Kong, the tale of China in the 20th Century plays out like a thrilling political and social soap opera. Basically, the entire country was ensnared in some kind of war, famine or massive fucked-up radical social program from 1911 to 1976, picking up again briefly in 1989. All the political leaders are riddled with paradox — Deng Xiaoping seems like such a cool guy. . .before all the executions begin. The film avoids Burns-esque expert vox-pop and listens only to the people who were there. Voice-of-God narrated footage is remarkable, as well. Who knew Mao brought a camera with him on the Long March? Anyway, anyone interested in human events owes it to themselves to check this out. I found myself taking current American events and putting them in context. I recognized that warfare against citizens is as old as the oldest Chinese proverb, and that even well-meaning governments are corrupt. I also realized just how well the average American has it, and even with Bush eroding our civil liberties it ain’t nothing compared to some of the stuff that’s gone on in China.