The Men Who Lost China

Thought-provoking and well-worth seeing
This is a remarkable documentary covering the history of China in the first half of the 20th Century. It shows how after centuries of monarchy, there were a number of opportunities for China to become a modern, democratic republic. Those opportunities were squandered, however, and this film explains the reasons, most of which I wasn't aware. I found it very surprising.

The overall failure of Western diplomacy, especially the US, to befriend China early on (after the fall of the last emperor), and then again and again when the chances were there, is one of the great tragedies of the last hundred years or so, I think, and this film points out all the familiar reasons: self-interest, hypocrisy, arrogance, simple inattention and incompetence--the list is endless. (A couple of World Wars didn't help, either.)

But at the top of the list you'd have to put straight ignorance: our ignorance of Chinese history, culture, thought and sensitivities, plus Chinese...

Surprisingly well done
I was a bit skeptical about what seemed a low budget, no name documentary, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it turned out to be.
The writer did extensive research on the intricacies of the East-West politics of a hundred years ago, and this definitely shows in the film. The story was laid out logically and drew me in, by the end of the film, I wished the makers went even deeper in the subject matter.
Finally the film made me reflect on how the misguided decisions our leaders made a century ago, still haunt us now.

Good job to the makers,

I also enjoyed

China From the Inside

Finally a detailed look at China's WW 1 involvement
I watched countless WW1 documentaries, including a "WW1 in Color" believe it or not... They are generally very well done but they all have been neglecting the Far East. They all seem to cover the same things: the Sarajevo assassination, the battles of Verdun, the birth of USSR, but lets face it, a hundred years from now all these events will become footnotes on history books. A colossus is rising from the Far East, and weather we like it or not, the way China feels about us, "The West", will one day matter more than everything else. Yet, historians and authors are rather slow in delving in the deep issues of Asian history.
I guess there is an inertia in the curriculum, like in everything else. Generation after generation of professors hands down textbooks covering our over glorified "History of the Western world", while Far East matters are reserved for "Asian Studies" classes.

Well, I am glad to see that this film is an exception to the rule. While is still far...

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