W E B Du Bois Visits China In 1959, Celebrating His 91st Birthday In Beijing. (title of the video from the republished source)

W E B Du Bois Visits China In 1959, Celebrating His 91st Birthday In Beijing. (title of the video from the republished source)

Chinese and African American Intellectual Relations

This film is a 1959 documentary made by The Central News and Documentary Film Studio of the People’s Republic of China, which is addressed as a birthday message from China to W. E. B. Du Bois and contains celebratory moments from his trip to the country. Du Bois was a well famed Black intellectual from the United States but still known internationally and so his personal visit to China, a country viewed domestically as a symbol of Communist tyranny and foreign hostility, carried a lot of significance. This video of a prominent civil rights activist shaking hands and leisurely enjoying the company of Mao Zedong, leader of China, further solidified in the minds of White Canadians a link between domestic human rights, as well as Black empowerment movements, and the perceived threat of Communist domination. Moreover, it enforced an image of Chinese and African communities belonging to the same marginalized category as a matter of international circumstance.

The Central News and Documentary Film Studio of the People’s Republic of China

The following clip (2:07-3:29) is cited and found in this video:

The Central News and Documentary Film Studio of the People’s Republic of China. “W E B Du Bois visits China in 1959, celebrating his 91st birthday in Beijing.” May, 1959. Youtube, Berkshire Publishing Group, March 1, 2022. Video, 8 min., 33 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzOBaq8Bx0A&t=1s.

Berkshire Publishing Group (the Youtube publisher)

1959

CC BY

Video file

English

Moving Image