Wild China

"Wild China" is a catchy name, but a more appropriate name for this show would be "Chinese Habitats and Traditions." Approximately 70% of the show presents human cooperation with nature, domestic animals, farming practices, and conservation efforts, and another 15-20% shows human traditions with no direct nature interactions at all. Only 10-15% of the show actually focuses on wild creatures and landscapes.

Now, that's not to say it's a bad show. I did learn a bit in each episode, in spite of the particularly monotonous narrator trying his hardest to lose my interest. The narrator was by far the worst thing about the show. It wasn't bad enough to call the show terrible, but that's probably the main reason I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

I watched Wild Indonesia a few years ago. It was only three episodes long, but every minute was filled with information and wild animals, there was never a dull moment. Why then do we need six episodes the tell us about the meager wildlife in China? The answer is we don't, which is why the scenes drag on forever and the pace of everything is so slow.

As for narration, I like Bernard Hill in some movies, but in this his voice is, to me anyway, incredibly dull and gray.

I can only assume that people rating this highly do so because it's a nice introduction to China and they don't know to much. I lived there for two years, and travelled through Indonesia, so perhaps that's some explanation.

To sum up, this would have made one or two hours good TV, but production companies are probably paid by the minutes of TV shown.

This is a very interesting documentary that should have been seen by so many more. Thanks to Netflix for making this available for a bigger audience.

If more Chinese people were shown this in school, maybe many of them would have different thoughts towards animals and wildlife in general.

After visiting China a couple of times last year, it was fascinating to see a different kind of China from what I experienced in my travels. Of all the episodes I enjoyed Shangri-La, Tibet and Beyond The Great Wall the most. The amazing animals in the rain forest in Shangri-La and the peaceful Tibetan lifestyle living in harmony with nature are some of the best highlights.

The last episode was also important in the mind of the future of China and in fact the world in general. Hopefully the mindset of Buddhism will continue, and not be overthrown by western/eastern influences and economic growth.

As for the use of shark fin soup, it's been a large decrease the last years, much thanks to campaigns using high profile stars as the popular basketball player Yao Ming. Luckily it seems to be a better understanding of animals and environmental problems by the younger generation.

So there is still hope… but China will play a big role for all life in the future, whether we like it or not!

Wow. To be fair, I watched this on a huge television with surround sound...other may not have the same experience, it may or may not have lessend their enjoyment,..But simply, WOW. The scenery, the greenery, the mist rising off the mountains, the panoramic views, the insight into both different regional cultures and the wildlife that surrounds and shapes them, is so exciting and fresh. The only drawback is that is seems to drag a bit in certain spots, but that may just be my lack of interest in certain animals, and it's not that bad. The narrator is both informative, leading and yet unobtrusive during the spectacular panoramas and minutiae the camera exposes and lets speak for itself. Watch this, if you need some green and travel, you don't have to pay attention to every second, but you won't be sorry. Let it take you someplace else.

Very Good Series. As a great fan of the BBC Natural History Unit series like Planet Earth I only came across this recently and it surprised me greatly in that I never realized China is so varied and full of amazing natural wonders. As with most Westerners my idea of China was just what we see on news channels with the background pictures of Beijing and the Great Wall. What was particularly good was the way the filmmakers include something of the life of local people in each episode. So many interesting local cultures exist in pockets each with a rich cultural tradition going back centuries. It is great that something is being done to record this before they disappear under the pressure of modern ways. The filmmakers also (quite carefully given the sensitivity of the Chinese government to perceived criticism) point out the huge problems for wildlife from human pressure for land taking the habitat for animals and birds and also the fact that in some parts of China they eat everything leading to rare animals being hunted for profit. For the first time ever I felt I would visit China to see its natural history and peoples.