The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World

Four part series looking at China's largest restaurant looks at what it takes to run a successful restaurant business in China. It introduces us to the energetic owner, Qin Linzi, her highly capable general manager and the army of waiters, chefs, managers and staff who keep everything running smoothly. West Lake Restaurant in South China's Changsha can safely call itself the biggest Chinese restaurant in the world, with its staff of 1,000 working 5,000 tables and serving no fewer than 150 ducks per day and 200 snakes per week. The words of the restaurant's staff and guests are used in the film to paint a picture of modern China: the proprietress, one of the city's 20 self-made millionaires, speaks candidly about her failed marriage; a bridegroom-to-be who is celebrating at the restaurant explains the modern Chinese customs associated with the wedding party; and a waitress visits her poor parents in the countryside. Through these scenes, we gain insight into the unique combination of the ancient religious values and the new capitalist values with which China is stepping into the 21st century. What becomes very clear is that not everyone is set to benefit from the economic boom. In an approach comparable to Jia Zhang-ke's in his portrait of a theme park called "The World," by focusing on the microcosm of the West Lake Restaurant, this film manages to gain a perspective on the huge changes China is going through.

English
  • TheTVDB.com Series ID 93151
  • Status Ended
  • First Aired May 27, 2008
  • Recent July 7, 2008
  • Network BBC Four
  • Average Runtime 120 minutes
  • Genres Documentary
  • Original Country Great Britain
  • Original Language English
  • On Other Sites IMDB
  • Episode Screenshot Format 4:3 Screencap
  • Favorited This series has been favorited by 0 people.
  • Created May 5, 2009 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified May 14, 2024 by
    Zetacon
Season From To Episodes
All Seasons
Specials 0
Season 1 May 2008 July 2008 5
Unassigned Episodes 0
Season From To Episodes
Unassigned Episodes 5
Absolute ordering places all episodes in a single ordered season. This is generally used for anime.
Season From To Episodes
Season 1 0
Unassigned Episodes 5

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