The US and China are economically intertwined and this is wonderfully brought out in this documentary by Alicia Dwyer and Tom Xia. They began working on the film in the midst of the prominent worries about the safety of products from China. You see how ordinary people experience these massive economic shifts. The documentary is serious, but there are plenty of light hearted moments. Here's the trailer:
The film is being screened on PBS stations all over the country. And it is available, in its entirety, on the PBS website:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365111395/
Here's the film's website:
http://www.xmaswithoutchina.com/
Tom Xia and Alicia Dwyer produced the film and Tom guides us throughout. They are USC grads. In 2006, he was part of a project which matched USC student filmmakers with students from Communication University of China. He and his partner produced The Elephant in a Pink Tutu, which addressed issues around migration, home values, macmansions and more. You can see it at http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=1432. Curious about other such collaborations? We have many of the films on our website:
2006: http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=1425
2008: http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2814
2009 (my favorite, especially Invisible Wall and Children of the Sun): http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=1925
2011: http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2820 (How to get an American Girlfriend has been watched a million times on one Chinese video website!)
These are also available at our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30FD5F0382C99E98
(full disclosure - as noted, Tom and Alicia are USC alumni and I advised them a bit on this effort and btw I made a point about Halloween now being made possible by China in a presentation here: http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=3214 or YouTube
edited by Clay Dube on 12/18/2013
In my personal life, I've been making an effort to purchase fewer products that are made in China. I feel really bad for the workers in China who are being exploited, so I am trying to "vote with my dollars".