An exotic fusion of natural history and Oriental adventure, “Wild China” is a series of journeys through four startlingly different landscapes, each based around the travels of a real historical character. With splendour, scale and romance, Wild China lifts the veil on the world’s most enigmatic and magnificent country, delving into its vibrant habitats to reveal a land of unbelievable natural complexity. Journey across China from the glittering peaks of the Himalayas to the barren steppe, the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands, through deserts both searingly hot and mind-numbingly cold and see, in pioneering images, a dazzling array of mysterious, beautiful, wild and rare creatures. Beautifully filmed and soothingly narrated by Bernard Hill (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Wild China takes an expansive look at the fourth largest country in the world. Over a period of more than six hours, the miniseries–which was co-produced by the BBC and China’s CTV–lets viewers into a world that is straddling the line between modern-day efficiency and old world traditions. Fans accustomed to travelogues with personable hosts such as quirky Anthony Bourdain or perky Samantha Brown leading them through far away places may get a little bored with the hands-off approach here. But the beauty of this production is in the country and the people, and the way the filmmakers present them in crisply edited vignettes. We see the jumping spiders atop Mount Everest, the winding grace of the Great Wall, and of course some shy pandas that many people equate with China. But some of the best moments are the simple ones–children in a classroom, fishermen working the waters, and monks meditating in monasteries. As did the Planet Earth series, Wild China makes viewers wish they were there. The film doesn’t touch heavily on the politics of China, but it isn’t lacking because of the omission. As it is, Wild China ends all too soon, leaving viewers longing for more for a country that once didn’t welcome foreigners in. –Jae-Ha Kim
Rating: 
(out of 60 reviews)
List Price: $ 39.99
Price: $ 24.49
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June 27, 2010
#1
Review by H. Le
Rating:
This is one of the best documentaries about China today. It shows the diverse topography, flora, and fauna of the most geographically and ethnically diverse countries in the world. It also focuses on the little known and long-standing efforts by China to preserve it’s environment, delicate ecological systems and unique animal life. The photography is breathtaking and the extra effort to show rarely seen areas of China are amazing. I have traveled all over China and this documentary shows the land as it truly is. For people who would like a glimpse into this remarkable land and it’s people, this documentary is an excellent choice.
June 27, 2010
#2
Review by g_sark
Rating:
I have to agree with the previous reviewer that said: “It also focuses on the little known and long-standing efforts by China to preserve it’s environment, delicate ecological systems and unique animal life.” There’s an example, in almost every episode, of conservation by the Chinese people, and this is not new. One of my favorites is the scene of Chinese people riding some distances on their bicycles with their birdcages strapped behind them, so they could hang all the little cages on trees so the birds could all talk to each other and not be lonely. Just recently, in the big earthquake (not this morning’s, the one before) one of China’s famous Giant Pandas ‘Mau Mau’ died when a wall collapsed on her. The keepers cried at her grave and she had a real funeral. While there is nothing quite so dramatic in this series, it is nice to see this side of the Chinese people at least alluded to.
Not mentioned in the last few reviews is the wonderful narration provided by Bernard Hill (captain of ‘The Titanic’; King Theoden of Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’). I was happy to see his wonderful voice put to such good use, and he even gets to keep his British accent!
June 27, 2010
#3
Review by natascha wiegand
Rating:
This is truly an incredible documentary. I knew that there were both marvelous animals and picturesque natural beauty in China, but never like this. Each episode [8 in total, viewing time of 377 minutes]makes you gape in awe at both the vastly diverse environments, animals and human tribes that make China their home.
June 27, 2010
#4
Review by Xin Ning
Rating:
July 16th, 2008:
This series has just recently been shown on CBC in HD here in Canada. I only watched 2 of the 7 part series due to schedule conflict. What can I say, BBC has done it again after their masterpiece Planet Earth. It portraits the natural beauty, the special animal species, and the people who live in harmonization, in various parts of China. Some of the scenes, according to the narrative, are the first time being shot. From the 2 episodes I watched, Wild China has some of the most stunning images and the picture quality is superb. I was so thrilled to see most of the things I have never seen either in person or on TV/Moive, even though I was originally from that country.
Now I am going to buy it off Amazon and will put it along side of Planet Earth as my permanent collection.
September 13th. 2008:
Regrettably, I have to agree with some of the reviewers that the Blu-ray production is a letdown! Comparing to the original TV series I saw, the color is not as vivid, the image drifts in and out of focus leaving one wonders whether it is really HD. And the voice of narrative is boring, I like the CBC version much better with Canadian TV host/environmentalist David Suzuki. It is very disappointing that such an amazing HD program came out to blu-ray like this.
I therefore downgraded my original rating from 5 to 3.
June 27, 2010
#5
Review by Richard
Rating:
This by the far the best documentary for your money,23 dollars that has 6 hours of documentary! might not rival to planet earth in term of depth or rival gapagos picture quality, but anyway this is great documentary regardness, this is not your typical china documentary, you won’t find forbidden city or other public well know sight, but isntead this more focus at the nature beauty landscape and landmark of China, which only native chinese know, example many of the scene of the wild china are never show in tv anywhere especially not in the west, only tourism will goes to those place, this mean it actualyl gave you a trip to china really, is that good. Also this one has large coverage of the popular china icon animal panda, which i sure please many, included coverage of tibet, most people think tibet as a religion and very harz place to live , but is far more than that and is very important for the survival of human kind. This does coverage of daily peopel lives but is balance with equal animal and nature coverage.