Mánchan sa tSín; Cathain a bhí sé ansin?

Highnoon

Bhi me ag feichaint ar an clat seo agus ceapaim go raidh se go maith. Cen bliain a bhi se ansin. Bim ag muineadh (spelling?) Tsin sa scoile agus bhiomar ag feichaint ar an clar. Duirt siad go raibh an clar an sean. Bhfeidir se no seacht bliain. Ni ceapaim go bhfuil se fior ach...

ta bron orm mar ta mo gaeilge ufasach!

Caixa

Bhí píosa faoin chlár seo san Irish Independent ar an 1 Marta 2003 - dar leis bhí an clár sin ar an teilifís an tseachtain sin:

JOHN BOLAND, TV REVIEW

Manchan sa tSin (TG4)

Nights of Glory, Days Of Trial (RTE1)

Other Voices: Songs From A Room (Network2)

24 (Network 2)

It's not often that you find the host of a travel show worrying about a 'theological chasm' that's just opened up but then Manchan sa tSin (TG4) is no ordinary travel show and Manchan Magan is no ordinary host.

His subject is China, which is also currently being featured on RTE1's No Frontiers but, while the latter has Kathryn Thomas going the usual travel show route and coming up with nothing more than a series of superficial holiday snaps, Manchan Magan is intent on getting to know the place and on conveying as many facts and insights to the viewer as he can.

Bespectacled and somewhat geekish, like a younger Bill Gates, he was in central China for this week's programme explaining what the authorities are doing with the Yangtse which, running for 6,500 kilometres from Tibet to Shanghai, is not only the world's fourth largest river but is also crucial to the lives and livelihoods of 16pc of the world's population.

He loves these arresting statistics, and so do I. Last week he informed us that 40 million Chinese people died as a direct result of living under Mao, many from starvation and many in even more brutally sinister ways. And this week he told us that a million people have died in the past 100 years from the Yangtse's frequent flooding.

For this reason, and for developmental ones too, the authorities have embarked on the construction of the massive Three Gorges dam, a 20-year task involving 60,000 workers which is due to be completed in 2009 and will involve the creation of a 500-kilometre lake, the obliteration of 13 cities, 140 towns and 326 villages as the water rises 175 metres, and the creation of new cities and towns above them to take their place.

The presenter visited the town of Wuhan, where, as he put it, "the unstoppable march of modernism has yet to stifle the traditional culture". In a few years, though, this shanty town on the banks of the Yangtse will be no more and already its inhabitants are preparing to move into the shiny new metropolis being built for them 180 metres higher up.

It was at this point that the presenter mentioned the 'theological chasm' as he asked the dam's director about the dangers of playing God with nature. Being a good communist, the director had no truck with God, but observed that mankind is nature, too, and has to be catered for.

Manchan Magan is an enthusiast for China and conveys his passion for its people so vividly that you want to go there yourself as soon as possible but he also sees the downside to the system's adherence of the Confucian culture the deprivation, the oppressiveness, the secrecy, the cruelties and corruption and he conveys that, too, as he also conveys the increasing embrace of capitalism that, in time, seems likely to change everything.

This is an outstanding series, superbly shot, edited and directed by his brother Ruan and with a terrific musical soundtrack from Ronan Coleman. TG4 has cornered the market in innovative travel shows, and if Hector O hEochagain's whirling-dervish excursions to foreign lands have grabbed the most attention, the Magans have demonstrated that, by taking the more thoughtful and enquiring path pioneered by Michael Palin, something truly absorbing can be the outcome.

Gael

Tá Manchan an-mhaith mar láithreoir ceart go leor.Tá sí i bhfad níos éirmiúla ná mo dhuine Hector. Nach bhfuil clár nua ag Hector anois? Amú san Afraic.

simu

Tá Manchan go maith - saghas clár fealsúnachta a chuireann sé i láithir ar shlí. Is maith liom go ndéanann sé iarracht teangacha eile a fhoghlaim agus cumarsáid cheart a dhéanamh le muintir na háite seachas Hector a bhíonn ag magadh agus ag amadántaíocht i gcónaí.

Ní fheaca "Hector san Aifric" fós ach chonaic mé cúpla léirmheas a bhí beagán cáinteach.

Gael

simu wrote:

Tá Manchan go maith - saghas clár fealsúnachta a chuireann sé i láithir ar shlí. Is maith liom go ndéanann sé iarracht teangacha eile a fhoghlaim agus cumarsáid cheart a dhéanamh le muintir na háite seachas Hector a bhíonn ag magadh agus ag amadántaíocht i gcónaí.

Ní fheaca "Hector san Aifric" fós ach chonaic mé cúpla léirmheas a bhí beagán cáinteach.

I ndáiríre. An é go gceapann siad go bhfuil an amadaíocht ag éirí tuirsiúil faoi seo?

simu

Gael wrote:

I ndáiríre. An é go gceapann siad go bhfuil an amadaíocht ag éirí tuirsiúil faoi seo?

Is dócha. Ach taitneoidh sé le daoine eile.