Future China 2049

Future China 2049

National Geographic
Future China 2049

Synopsis

China has a dream; of becoming one of the world's most developed nations by its centenary in 2049. To achieve it, over the next 30 years it will lay down more infrastructure than the rest of the world has in its history. Modernising and greening cities and buildings, the way people travel and trade, embracing technology, and finding new ways to care for and feed over 1.3 billion people. In these programmes, we reveal how far China has come in realising its dream, and use state of the art CGI to bring that realisation, to life.

Episodes

Season 1

  • China On The Move

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    China is on the move - re-imagining how its people travel both within the country and abroad. Using autonomous and electric car and passenger drones to solve congestion and pollution.

  • Green Revolution

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    Solar and wind-power, skyscraper farms and vertical forests. After decades of environmental degradation, China is looking for sustainable, green solutions to some of its biggest challenges - how to feed, power and house a population of 1.3 billion people. If it succeeds, it will change the face of China and redefine the future as we know it.

  • Technology Takeover

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    China is increasingly turning to technology in the form of robots, AI and the internet to meet the needs of its burgeoning population. Will robots help the population or put them out of work? The internet has the potential to truly connect the whole country but raises issues of privacy and social control; advances in medical technology raise huge ethical issues. We investigate how these 21st century issues will play out in the build-up to 2049.