Running up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics (August 8-24), Thirteen will be airing a number of documentaries about contemporary China, and a few about the Olympics. Some of them are also watchable online. See the listings and links here.

Broadcasts:

Saturday, August 2

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (preview), at 1pm.
This is the Dalai Lama’s story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet. (2006)

Frontline: The Tank Man at 2:30 pm. (also watchable online)
After all others had been silenced, his lonely act of defiance in Tiananmen Square against the Chinese regime amazed the world. What became of him? And 17 years later, has China succeeded in erasing this event from its history? (2006)

Globe Trekker: Beijing City Guide at 4 pm.
View Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Ancient Observatory, Lama Temple, Longquin Gorge and some festivals.

Great Museums: China — West Meets East At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at 5 pm.
Step inside the Met to look at Chinese art spanning centuries.

Beijing or Bust: (read more; read filmmaker’s blog) at 6 pm.
This film profiles six “ABCs” – American-born Chinese, as they call themselves – who left jobs, homes and families in the United States to live in China. Their experiences are set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing, tumultuous Beijing. (2005) (note: filmmaker Hao Wu was jailed for months in 2006 for unknown reasons but probably because of his reporting on different underground movements in China).

Frontline: Young And Restless In China, at 7pm. (also watchable online)
An intimate look into the lives of nine young Chinese, coming of age in a society that’s moving at breakneck speed. Filmmaker Sue Williams made both this film and “China In The Red”. (2008)

Sunday, August 3

Great Museums: China — West Meets East At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at 2 pm.
Spanning from ancient to modern times, the Met features porcelains and jades, painted silk scrolls, Buddhist sculptures from every era of China’s 5000-year history. This collection clearly
illustrates the masterful integration of art into every aspect of Chinese culture.

Tuesday, August 5

Secrets of the Dead: Doping For Gold, at 8pm. See repeats here.
In the 1970s, female East German athletes came from nowhere to dominate international sport. But behind their success lay a horrifying secret. Doping for Gold reveals the truth behind the biggest state-sponsored doping program the world has ever known, creating a timely perspective on today’s many sports drug scandals. (2008)

Thursday, August 7

China From the Inside:Freedom and Justice, at 9 pm.
Religious worship in China is problematic for Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics separated from Vatican influence, the 40 million adherents of China’s unofficial churches, and the Falun Gong. Civic problems include forced evictions, government cover-up of AIDS, corruption and land grabbing. Filmed in Tibetan temples, newspaper offices and a labor camp, this film asks: what are the limits of freedom — and the threats to stability? (2006)

The Real Olympics: Playing To Win, at 10pm.
Although the ancient and modern games were conceived in different societies, respecting different gods and separated by almost three thousand years of history, there are powerful human connections, linking past and present. The most astonishing discovery of all is that the more the modern games have developed, the closer they have come to the ancient.

Tuesday, August 12

Wide Angle: China Prep, at 9 pm. (Repeats August 15 at 10 pm.)
As the world’s attention turns to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, WIDE ANGLE reports on how the next generation of Chinese leaders is being molded. China Prep follows five Chinese students through their final high-pressure year at an elite high school in Sichuan Province. (2008)

Watch These Documentaries in Full, Online:

Frontline: China In The Red, originally aired 2003.
Filmed over the course of three turbulent years, “China in the Red” tells the stories of 10 Chinese individuals — factory workers, rural villagers, and a millionaire entrepreneur — caught up in China’s dramatic, ongoing effort to modernize its economy. Through their intimate personal stories, camera work capturing the unique feel of their cities and homes, and with a soundtrack that includes Chinese rock music reflecting the rawness and energy of a nation in great flux, “China in the Red” offers a view of China that is rarely seen in the West.

Frontline: Young And Restless In China, originally aired 2008.
An intimate look into the lives of nine young Chinese, coming of age in a society that’s moving at breakneck speed. Filmmaker Sue Williams made both this film and “China In The Red”.

Frontline/World: Jesus In China, segment originally aired 2008.