A public domain video
China: The Roots of Madness is a 1967 Cold War era documentary. It won an Emmy Award in the documentary category. The film attempts to analyze the anti-Western sentiment in China from the official American perspective, covering 170 years of China's political history, from Boxer Rebellion of the Qing Dynasty to Red Guards of Cultural Revolution. The film focuses on the power struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, amid heavy political intervention from Moscow, with Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong playing the pivotal role at the center stage.

The documentary film was made for television in 1967, during the Cold War. It was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Theodore H. White, directed by Mel Stuart, edited by William T. Cartwright, and produced by David L. Wolper. Production costs were funded by a donation from John and Paige Curran. The film has been released under Creative Commons license.

White's access to important political figures of the time allowed him to create some rare footage, which included the wedding of Chang and the funeral of Sun.


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