Every week the latest episode in this groundbreaking series is available to steam straight to your computer. You can also get a behind the scenes look at each film by reading the directors comments.
By producer/Director Jill Marshall
Filming in Shanghai, China's New York, is a mass of contradictions. Fabulous high rise buildings towering over poverty stricken shacks. Massive traffic jams when, whatever the weather, most of the population seemed to be racing along on bikes or scooters, frustrating petty officialdom alongside the exhilaration of filming in Shanghai's parks which are bursting with people of all ages pursuing fun, low tech activities - from tai chi, group singing and every type of dancing, to massed groups playing maracas!
But contradictions are the essence of China. A country that is really 2 countries. One billion people still live in rural poverty, but the other 300 million live in cities and are reaping the benefits of China's rapid industrialisation by adopting the consumerist lifestyles of the West. The result is that China's greenhouse gas emissions have just overtaken those of the USA - between them the 2 countries produce about half of the world's emissions. Shanghai, the symbol of China's economic success is, ironically, one of the cities with most to lose if global warming cannot be contained. It could be submerged by rising sea levels.
Zhao Wen Guang works 10 hours a day, 7 days a week riding his tricycle round Shanghai buying and selling goods that can be recycled. He used to do farm work and part time teaching in a village 700 kilometres from Shanghai but moved to the city so he could afford a better education for his children. He thinks his work has value beyond making him a living. He aspires to own a car - but wants to get an electric one that has no exhaust fumes.
The Chinese Government needs the support of its citizens for the huge task ahead.
As Shanghai resident and Environmental consultant David Sutton, says “The simple fact is China cannot develop as the West has. We'd need three planets of resources to do that… We just cannot afford to not change, we must adapt or die”.
China has the biggest population and the fastest growing economy in the world, it is also the worst polluter on the planet. Shanghai, the country's financial and commercial hub, is right at the heart of China's economic and consumer revolution. Being on the coast it is also a city very much at the mercy of climate change. “Hot Cities” looks at how Shanghai can adapt and survive.
