China's big hits coming to New Zealand theaters

Documentary offers glimpse of life in the 1950s

A movie shot nearly six decades ago provides intriguing insights into ties between China and New Zealand before the countries established diplomatic ties in 1972.

The black-and-white movie, Inside Red China, was made by New Zealand couple Rudall and Ramai Hayward in 1957, at a time when China's relations with the West were clouded by the Cold War.

The documentary, which is less than 30 minutes long, captures poignant moments from people's lives in four cities: Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan.

The movie, shown at the New Zealand embassy in Beijing just days ahead of the 2016 New Zealand China Film Week, has a scene in which Ramai Hayward presents a Maori feather cloak to Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China.

In April 2013, the National Museum of China, where the cloak was kept, loaned it to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the country's national museum, for an exhibition.

The Museum of New Zealand held a ceremony to mark the arrival of the cloak.

Besides the presentation of the cloak, the documentary includes such scenes as pandas at Beijing Zoo and construction of the historic Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the first road-and-rail bridge across the Yangtze.

John McKinnon, New Zealand's ambassador to China said the movie reflects a "frank and straightforward view" of China in the 1950s and provides a "reliable report" about the country during that time.