All language subtitles for Power and the People

In 2004, workmen began turning a field in Beijing into the main site for the 2008 Olympics. Small start. Huge goal.

Only one of the world's ancient cultures has any real vitality today, is in the ascendant, and might come to dominate the world: China.

Lots of foreigners say, "You Chinese, are you all insane? Your country's so lousy - what makes you think you should be - will be - Number One?" But that's what the Chinese have in mind.

China is changing. Growing richer. Growing stronger. This may be China's century.

Much has been made of her extraordinary economic growth - but that's only part of her compelling, complex story.

Communist China seems to present herself as a country which thinks with one mind. Speaks with one voice.

But that's an illusion. This television series has had exceptional access to China, her institutions and people.

We've filmed temples in Tibet.

A women's labour camp, outside Beijing.

The tensions of a country wedding.

A village election.

Rivers and skies thick with pollution.

Above all, we've talked to people - with a wide variety of perspectives.

The gap between rich and poor, between the weak and the powerful is widening.

There's no way for people at the base of society to get their voices heard. No way to vent their discontent. A kind of pressure is slowly building up there.

The call for justice in this one-party state is getting louder. Sometimes how people talk - and that they are talking at all - is revealing in itself.

This complex, developing country defies easy analysis - and the stakes couldn't be higher.

If things change too fast in China, it'd be like a storm. Huge raindrops don't irrigate the land. On the contrary, they might wash away fertile topsoil. I hope for drizzles. For gradual change. Drizzles seep into the ground, helping seeds take root and sprout.

I think change should be very slow. And it must be a combination of people at the grassroots working up and people from high up working down. This is the only way to find our own path.

It isn't easy, running a country the size of China.

1.3 billion people; fifty-six officially recognised ethnic nationalities. A heady mix of language, living standards, belief and custom.

Xinjiang Autonomous Region in North-West China is bigger than Alaska.

One of Asia's greatest markets is in Kashgar, where Marco Polo paused on the Silk Route - 750 years ago.

I'm from Kashgar.

I was a school kid, but from an early age I went to the market with my father to buy cows, buy goats, buy donkeys. It's special there.

Turkic Muslims are in the majority in Kashgar, but barely in Xinjiang.

In recent years millions have been settled here from the rest of China, to spur the economy and reduce Muslim predominance. This has added to local tensions.

Nowhere on its mainland is China's unity and sovereignty more vulnerable than in Xinjiang, which borders eight countries, including Russia, Pakistan. And, here, Kazakhstan.

The Chinese worry about links between pro-independence groups in Xinjiang and the outside world.

Xinjiang is our motherland's western gate. The main menace in Xinjiang is East Turkestan Separatists.

They've committed over two hundred terrorist acts, including bombings, assassinations and poisonings. They've injured many people from different ethnic groups.

We ensure even tighter control at important mountain crossing points. We're determined to stop terrorists escaping across the border.

The patrol finds a broken wire.

It could be normal wear and tear - or more worrying.

In recent years, there's been a small number of people who want to break away, but all ethnic nationalities in Xinjiang are firmly opposed to them.

We want to increase development and improve the living standard of all nationalities and oppose any form of independence and separatist activities.

The Chinese don't want political Islam to get a foothold in Xinjiang.

If anyone uses religion to affect national security - we'll crack down on them in accordance with the law.

Religion is controlled in China - it's officially an atheist state. You're not meant to be a believer and a Party member.

My family believes in Islam, and so do all the people around. And I learned some Koran at school. But gradually, when I grew up and joined the Communist Party, I stopped believing in Islam.

It's not just me but all the ethnic minority people who have joined the Communist Party. We're like all Communist Party members in the country. We believe in communism.

The Party has a shrine in the capital Urumqi to 'revolutionary martyrs' including the younger brother of Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the Chinese communist state.

It's an ideal place for new Party members to take their vows.

The Party has over sixty million members. Around one person in twenty-two.

Cynics say you join the Party to get along. The initiates describe it spiritually.

I shall never forget today. Joining the Party marks the beginning of my struggle for the cause of Communism.

The Party is like a mother to all the people of the country. It's nurtured the growth of the younger generation.

It's the goal of all progressive, healthy and optimistic young people to achieve communism. Our current aim is to become a prosperous society.

Alongside providing stability, here is the Party's second claim to legitimacy - as the creators of the conditions for prosperity.

Xiamen, on the south-east coast, makes computers for the world.

It was declared a special economic zone in 1979 by leader Deng Xiaoping who told the people to enrich themselves.

Xiamen now produces more than Bahrain.

Guiding the city's passionate embrace of the market economy is the Communist Party, led by Party Secretary Zheng Lizhong.

The party's ultimate objective is to achieve communism. It's such a long process, we must divide it into stages. We're now in the early stage of socialism.

We work for the interests of the people. The Communist Party doesn't have its own interests. It pursues the interests of all the people in China.

The Party Secretary is attending the annual award ceremony for Xiamen's model workers.

It helps ensure that the city's economic triumph is owned by the Communist Party.

In his speech Zheng Lizhong applies Marxist rhetoric to the capitalist reward system.

But for whose benefit are events like this? Which group is more important to the continuing authority of the Party? Is it the prize-winners? Or the power-holders on stage? Or the millions of people who didn't get invited?

The hundreds of millions of workers and peasants, don't count, you can ignore them. You can also rob and exploit them. It's not a problem.

The most important thing is to get the powerful on your side. As long as the tens of millions of Party bureaucrats, capitalists, top managers and intellectuals all agree with your policy and get on board, the ship won't sink. No problem.

The event ends with the Communist anthem, the Internationale. But there are few other signs here of the Party's revolutionary past - when it persecuted capitalists.

The Party's aim now is to create not just a prosperous, but what it calls a 'harmonious society'.

The meaning of a harmonious society is, quite simply, that every single one of us feels very happy and comfortable, feels our environment suits us. If everyone can say this, we will have created a 'harmonious society'.

Society is very complicated, especially in China with 1.3 billion people. In the course of development, imbalances have appeared.

One is the imbalance between the East and West of China. Another is between the North and South.

There are differences in income between people from different levels of society; differences between big cities and countryside. This has caused some problems and contradictions.

So how does the Communist Party cope with these 'problems and contradictions'?

The government assumes it has a very important mission, which is to manage.

It uses the word "manage", but in Chinese the word "manage" has complex implications.

To manage can mean, I'm going to take care of things for you, but it can also mean I'm going to control you.

It's winter in Tibet. Since the Chinese arrived in 1950, Party members have come here to serve.

They talk of 'braving the thin air', the 'harsh climate'. Tours of duty in Tibet are seen as sacrifice - a way to express one's idealism and devotion.

Dai Fengxia is a Party official and Deputy Township Head with five Tibetan villages under her.

She sleeps in the local school, only seeing her husband in Lhasa at weekends. Her six year old son lives with his grandparents fourteen hundred miles away. She sees him just once a year.

She can't speak Tibetan so her driver interprets for her.

Much of Dai Fengxia's work is giving practical help to farmers.

But she's also responsible for making sure Tibetan women follow the Party's family planning policies and ideological messages.

Each village has a Women's Head. They're mainly responsible for arranging study of things like the new Marriage Law, the policies of the Party, and organising propaganda and study.

First, she must find Migmar - her Women's Head in Jiaru district.

But Tibet's a big place - bigger than Texas and California combined.

Dai Fengxia has targets to meet, and she imposes targets on those below her.

If every time we go to the countryside, we solve just one problem for the people there, then they'll say how good the Communist Party is and they'll give us the thumbs up.

That's how simple and honest they are. They don't ask for much.

Also, the people appreciate the benefits they've got, the peaceful lives they have now.

Tibet has long been seen by Government and Party as a volatile place, needing vigilance against radical nationalists seeking independence, often under the cloak of religion. It's a place to be controlled.

For almost ten years, we've maintained stability in Tibet. Public security here, I assure you, is the best in the country, and the crime rate's the lowest.

Our society, I'm proud to say, is as harmonious and peaceful as other cities and provinces, and may be even better.

The army keeps a strong presence in Tibet, but subtler, softer ways have evolved to achieve stability.

The ethnic Tibetan population, as in Xinjiang, has been balanced out by a massive influx of business people from the rest of China.

In the late 1980s there were protestors on the streets of Lhasa. Now there are shoppers.

Lhasa looks more like any modern Chinese city, and less like the ancient Tibetan capital. Billboards advertise everything from sneakers to abortion clinics.

Lu Xiaofei returned to Lhasa after six years away.

Changes were enormous, but some made me feel uncomfortable. Building in Lhasa did not take ethnic development into account. They just blindly stuck things up.

This made me feel quite sad, as I felt that it wasn't in harmony with Tibetan culture.

Much business in Lhasa is dominated by non-Tibetan entrepreneurs.

These sisters have come from North East China to run clothes stores. Do the Tibetans resent their presence?

Once or twice someone'll say you've come into our land and taken our jobs. Maybe they're drunk and become unreasonable. It has happened.

Tibetans are very conscious of their nationality.

If you sell them some clothes, and they then ask for a refund, you give it to them. They're quite savage. Not like us from the mainland.

Some people here are sensible and some aren't. Some just don't understand reason and hit you.

The other day we sold a leather jacket; the buyer wanted to exchange it. She didn't understand what we were saying and just started hitting us.

We couldn't do a thing. You want to talk reason with them but they don't get it. Some people understand and some don't.

Very honest! Some Tibetans are very honest!

Lots of good people. Many more good than bad.

It's just they're a bit uneducated.

The Party has decided that Tibet needs to be more accessible. By 2007 Lhasa will be linked to the rest of China by a railway line built across some of the toughest terrain on the planet.

It's an extraordinary engineering feat which will bring in more business, more tourism. The railway will make Tibet richer, but will it make it less Tibetan?

I'm not worried about it, because when the railway's finished it'll enhance Tibet's development and economy, and expand its communications. This is great.

The Party is intensely proud of the railway. It's put up a huge poster proclaiming it as a pioneering project of the Communist Party. But it's written in Chinese, not in Tibetan.

Do you understand it?

No. I can't read, sir. You don't know Chinese? No.

You don't know what it means? No, I don't.

The Communist Party is trying to ensure new generations of Chinese officials and teachers in Tibet know the language.

But the Party also recruits Tibetan members who work at the grassroots they know best.

Near the Potala Palace - the Dalai Lama's traditional home - live the eighteen hundred people of Shoel Community. Not much around here escapes the eye of Tibetan Party official Lobsang Yangnyi.

Working for the people is what our Party stresses. We often say we've got to focus all our efforts on governing purely for the people.

So who decides what's best for the people? The National People's Congress in Beijing is the highest governmental body in China, but it's the Party that calls the shots.

There are debates in China. And sometimes they're very fierce debates. There are several levels to these debates.

One is inside the Chinese Communist Party, within the Central Party Committee. There's full discussion of Party policies.

During these discussions, if opinions differ, then debates arise. But ultimately decisions are made on the principle of the minority obeying the majority. This kind of debate is not visible to the outside world.

The National People's Congress turns policy - devised by the Party behind closed doors - into laws and practise.

Its nearly three thousand deputies are drawn from categories like the Army, the Party, intellectuals, workers, peasants and ethnic minorities.

Yuan Jinghua runs a school for deaf and mute children. Like her fellow deputies, she was elected to the NPC not by the public but by her regional People's Congress.

Given that all deputies are Party members or Party approved, how much can happen in this hall that the Party does not bless?

I don't feel any pressure, because this is an expression of democracy.

But you need to maintain the correct direction, you can't just decide willy-nilly, yes or no, because you have to have sufficient understanding of the issue.

There's no one putting any pressure on you, it's just you have to understand, then it's okay. It's totally democratic.

If, based on your own ideas, you agree, then you just press "agree". If you have doubts about it, then you don't press it showing you disagree. It's all very democratic.

The 10th Congress in 2005 voted on a law to stop Taiwan seceding from the People's Republic of China, and to permit the use of force as a last resort.

2,896 voted in favour with none against, but Taiwan is an emotional issue and unanimity was the exception that day. Hundreds of dissenting votes were cast.

One of the first deputies ever to vote 'no' in a People's Congress, was Wu Qing.

I twice voted no. I remember a man behind me who said in a very loud voice 'That's the woman who cast dissenting votes. I didn't look round. I thought he was a rat.

Many people shook my hand when I left, saying 'Wu Qing, you really made me feel democracy in China. 'So why didn't you vote against?' I asked. 'Well, ' they said, 'it's a long story.'

The NPC has yet to overturn Party decisions, but it's not the only place where politics may be replacing orders from above. And the participants in this process are not educated city-dwellers.

Nearly two-thirds of China's people live in the country - 780 million in all. 1800 live in Liuqian village, Shandong Province.

They grow food, raise animals, make bricks. They go to school. They look after the young.

That's on a normal day. But tomorrow won't be normal. Liuqian village is going to the polls.

Voting is voluntary, but the turn-out on a chilly morning in December is an impressive ninety-four percent. It takes place at the school, so the children have the day off.

The election is tightly supervised by a raft of Party and government officials.

The election of the Village Committee is extremely significant. It's ground-breaking in the Party's promotion of democracy.

Ground-breaking in that it's a chance for our peasants, who for hundreds of years have had their backs to the sun and their faces to the earth, to have the right to make decisions for themselves.

But does the village see today's vote as important or a formality?

Absolutely important. Because we want to elect a good secretary - a good villager - from the bottom of our hearts.

We can definitely do this. The people know what's what. We're going do it.

Six men - no women are standing - compete for three year terms of office. Up for reelection as village head is Zheng Jifu.

But is this democracy? Are the choices being offered to the people of Liuqian political?

In direct village elections in China, there is no opposition.

If someone wants to be elected as village head he can't put forward his own political beliefs. He can't represent a particular interest.

They all stand as individuals; the only choice is between a good or bad person - or a relatively good person.

All but one of the candidates on the ballot today are members of the Communist Party. The exception is Liu Baotian and he's careful to acknowledge the Party in his speech.

It doesn't matter if he's a Party member, as long as he benefits the people.

Even he's not a Party member he'll become one if he has lot to contribute. Anyone good would be in the Party.

The village election is so important to every family. If we can elect a good team, they'll lead all the villagers to increased prosperity, to achieve a better life.

No one seems to know how many villages in China have had elections. And though some follow the rules, others are hijacked by powerful local families, or corrupt Party officials.

Sometimes candidates openly bribe villagers. 'Vote for me and I'll give you 100 yuan.' Another candidate may be richer: 'Don't vote for him, vote for me and I'll give you 200 yuan.'

This kind of vote-buying has happened in many places during elections.

According to Chinese sources, local Party officials have rigged elections, or annulled them when the 'wrong' person got in. Villagers have denounced these illegalities, often in vain.

I want to elect somebody who is capable, who can contribute to Liuqian Village, and won't embezzle money.

Zheng Jifu nervously watches his vote trickle in. For the villagers it makes sense to choose their immediate leaders. For the Party, village elections have longer term advantages - if they can be controlled.

The success of village elections doesn't mean China's going to become a democracy.

On the contrary, it means there's no need for China to become a democracy, because the election process is making the Communist Party more secure - so they don't have the impetus. They're in no hurry. It's not like their eyebrows are on fire.

The result really seems to matter to some villagers. Others take a practical view.

They're all the same. Whoever we elect, we'll have to follow. If only they'd give us enough to eat, and look after the old people, that'd be fine.

Give us money, and fruit at New Year. And take better care of the elderly. They're still not doing enough.

We want more money but they won't give it to us.

Just four of the six men - including the non Party member - were elected to the committee. Then came the result for the village head.

So Zheng Jifu did win another term - but with a reduced majority.

Elections may consolidate party power in the villages, but at a risk. Voting could create its own momentum. More people could get a stronger taste for making bigger decisions.

The process may be very, very long - the development of democracy is step by step.

But the continuous progress of an increasingly effective democracy may in the end succeed in restricting the power of the party.

The biggest threat to the Party is the loss of people's trust. Absolute power presiding over economic boom has bred rampant corruption.

Many see officials not as public servants, but as profiteers.

Chinese press reports say that between 2004 and 2005, nearly 300,000 Party members were punished for corruption, including Party Secretaries and nearly 500 judges.

Some were executed. Thousands have fled abroad with around 50 billion dollars of the public's money.

So many problems and what's the reason? It's that against the background of the market economy there's an alliance between authoritarian politics and the elites.

It's maintained China's stability and prosperity but also created a string of problems.

And amongst these, we can see a dangerous trend. It's that power, money and knowledge are colluding to serve a bandit society - this gang of elites who are robbing the masses.

The Party has told its members that Communist rule cannot now be taken for granted, that this is a life and death struggle.

Our country is now ruled by the Communist Party, and its image will be severely damaged if it doesn't stop corruption.

It shakes people's faith in the Communist Party and their trust in the government.

Eventually, if corruption can't be stopped, the Party will die and the country will die.

Xie Jian is one of the top young prosecutors in China, specialising in corruption and bribery cases.

She's on her way to Suzhou Prison in Jiangsu Province to see a man she put inside for embezzlement - a man sentenced to death.

This was commuted to life imprisonment after he confessed and showed remorse. He may get an early release.

He wanted to study when he went to prison. He wanted to better himself.

That's why I sometimes visit him in prison. I feel he's studying hard, so we're helping him.

Xie Jian tracked Tang Jun and his girlfriend across Asia, arresting him when he stepped off a plane in China after deportation from the Philippines.

He was twenty-six years old when he stole the equivalent of half a million dollars from the electronics firm where he worked as accountant.

It was a state-run company. They aren't so strict with things like documents and authorisations. So they handed it to me on a plate.

I was still very young and impulsive. I didn't know what fear was. Plus, I didn't know much about the law. I'd vaguely heard of the word 'embezzlement' and knew that - if caught - you could be sentenced to death.

I think it's driven by greed. And economic crimes in a developing society are inevitable, as the temptation of money is too great.

Back in her office, Xie Jian's team discuss a man believed to have cheated a finance company out of 50 million yuan - around six million dollars.

Corrupt Party officials may have been involved, there's no trace of the money - and the man isn't talking.

Some people are really good. Some really bad. In the Chinese Communist Party are some of the best and some of the worst.

That's because it's where the power is located and fought over. Many are very good. There are also some very bad people.

So I think we People's Representatives and the ordinary folk should supervise the Party continuously. We need to encourage them and let them know the people are watching them.

The Party's on a drive to inspire moral leadership in its members. Mass tree-planting sessions remind them that they must serve China and her future, not themselves.

They should be what the Party calls 'advanced'. And that involves looking back.

The Party today seems a world away from the men and women who dragged China into the modern age using revolutionary zeal and guts.

Ren Yangcheng led a team which cut the Red Flag Irrigation Canal through a mountain range in Henan Province.

Forty years later he recalls taking one of the most dangerous jobs himself.

We had to get rid of all the loose rocks up there so work could go on safely below.

All we could do was swing - like on a child's swing - and get in close to the cliffs so as to dislodge the rocks.

We were all young. Eighty-one died.

Young people these days need to learn the spirit of hardship from the past - for the revolution, for the people.

They must always think of the people, care for them. We can't lose this old revolutionary tradition.

These aren't tourists. They're Party members sent on pilgrimage to inspire them with the selfless vigour of revolutionary times.

When the guide points out who the old man on the bridge is, some Party members can hardly believe their eyes or their luck.

I really admire him. Extraordinary! Look at it. Really unbelievable!

They never had enough food in their bellies! You had just rags to wear.

In those days, there was no food, no clothes and no money.

They got just 12 fen for a day's work. Our generation must learn from them, and the next generation and so on forever.

If all Communist officials today were like those who built this, the Communist Party would rule forever.