Home / Series / Storyville / Aired Order / Season 2007 / Episode 38

Why Democracy? Part 1: Please Vote for Me

Weijun Chen's film takes us into the world of Chinese schoolchildren, learning about democracy for the first time as they try to vote for their class monitor. Elections are uncommon in China, so when the children in a school in Wuhan, Central China are presented with the chance to choose their own class monitor they don't quite know what to make of it. It doesn't take them long to get into the swing of it and soon all sorts of dirty tricks are going on. Urged on by their parents, the candidates launch elaborate campaigns of bribery and coercion. After tantrums and tears, it's finally time for the vote. Who will win - the sweet girl who woos her voters with her flute playing, the bully who beats his classmates or the boy who has the best sweets?

English
  • Originally Aired October 7, 2007
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Content Rating United States of America TV-PG
  • Network BBC Four
  • On Other Sites Official Website
  • Created September 9, 2012 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified April 4, 2023 by
    mik1123