The Pacific Century
1992 · 1 season · 10 episodes · Ended · PBS
Documentary
TMDB 10.0 · 1 votes
The Pacific Century was a 1992 PBS Emmy Award winning ten part documentary series narrated by Peter Coyote about the rise of the Pacific Rim economies. Alex Gibney was the writer for the series, and Frank Gibney, his father, wrote the companion trade book, The Pacific Century: America and Asia in a Changing World. The companion college telecourse, Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia, was written and edited by Mark Borthwick. The series was a co-production of the Pacific Basin Institute and KCTS-TV in Seattle. Principle funding was provided by the Annenberg Foundation.
Episodes
- S01E01The Two Coasts of China1992-10-01
Introduces the concept of a "balancing act" in China's elite's perceptions of external threats and opportunities that in one form or another have presented themselves ever since the creation of a unified Chinese state. Most of this episode, however, takes place in the 19th century when the threat was overwhelmingly from the seacoast with the arrival of aggressive Western traders and, ultimately, their countries' warships.
- S01E02The Meiji Revolution1992-10-08
Japan became the first industrially and technically underdeveloped nation to modernize itself and become a great power. Its transformation took place under the authority of the young, newly installed Meiji Emperor whose profound symbolic importance to the Japanese people was skillfully used by a talented, elite group of government leaders. Such a rapid ascent led Japan to entertain imperial ambitions, resulting in a territorial clash with Russia and stressful changes in the society.
- S01E03From the Barrel of a Gun1992-10-15
- S01E04Writers & Revolutionaries1992-10-22
- S01E05Reinventing Japan1992-10-29
- S01E06Inside Japan, Inc.1992-11-05
- S01E07Big Business and the Ghost of Confucius1992-11-12
- S01E08The Fight for Democracy1992-11-19
- S01E09Sentimental Imperialists1992-11-26
- S01E10The Pacific Century1992-12-03
