What happens
This episode of The Pacific Story, first broadcast on August 25, 1946, examines Sichuan province in China after the Second World War. Old farmer Ah Lung and his younger companion, Weilong, discuss the crowded countryside and the need for new farming methods, and Weilong reveals that he now works for the government in survey and development. The program then traces how the wartime relocation of China's capital to Chongqing transformed the province, showing its industry, distilleries, mines and planned irrigation and hydroelectric projects. Scenes of inflation and an epidemic in Chongqing are followed by planners weighing how to modernize the region's agriculture and industry.
Sichuan province and the city of Chongqing, China, in 1946
Characters: Ah Lung, Weilong, Bill Thomas, Seth, Phil
Listen for: Weilong's discussion with the old farmer about modernizing the irrigation and farming of the Chengdu plain
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.