Shanghai diaries

Grand Shanghai is one of three documentary series recently released by Shanghai television stations to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

New China in Color, a 50-minute documentary based on color footage of events related to the founding of New China produced by a Soviet film crew, was aired on Oct 1 on Dragon Television and Shanghai Television's Documentary Channel.

The color footage, which was found in Russia, offers the audience an opportunity to view historic scenes in China during the initial days of New China, including the main ceremony in Beijing. The footage was shot by a film crew from the Soviet Union invited to China before its founding to capture people's lives in color film in 1949 and 1950. They cooperated with Chinese photographers, who used cameras for black-and-white photography, the new documentary's makers say.