Changes

When Imagineers initially conceived the China pavilion, plans for what would eventually become Reflections of China originally called for the show film to be film shown on a standard theater screen<ref name= "Martin2"> http://www.martinsvids.net/ </ref>. Eventually, before it however, the attraction was developed into a CircleVision 360 film. In order to create the attraction, Imagineers led by director Jeff Blyth traveled to China in film a travelogue style movie <ref name= "Jack"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/walt_disney_world/theme_parks/epcot/china/ </ref>. Initially, the Chinese government was interested in partnering with Disney, but was uncomfortable with Western film crews filming their country. Because of this, at the outset the government but strict restrictions of Disney's film crew, including making the Great Wall and Tibet off limits.

In order As Disney and China continued to create the attractionnegotiate over filming restrictions, Imagineers led by director Jeff Blyth traveled little progress was being made. In a last ditch effort to attain more creative freedom, Disney showed representatives from China in the film a travelogue style movie for the attraction Fantasia<ref name= "Jack"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/walt_disney_world/theme_parks/epcot/china/ </ref>. Initially, This showing seemingly helped convince the Chinese government was interested in partnering with to loosen their restrictions, and Disney but was uncomfortable with Western film crews filming their countrygiven more autonomy. Because As part of thisnew agreement, the government initially but strict restrictions when shots of DisneyChina's "sensitive" areas was called for, Blyth would turn the sequence over to his Chinese counterpart<ref name= "Jack"/>. The Chinese film crewwould then film the scene, including making before it was reviewed by the Great Wall and Tibet off limitsAmerican team, who would decided if any additional takes were needed.

As Disney and China continued to negotiate over filming restrictions, little progress was being made. In a last ditch effort to attain more creative freedom, Disney showed representative's from China the film Fantasia. This showing seemingly helped convince the Chinese government to loosen their restrictions, and Disney was given more autonomy. As part of this new agreement, when shots of China's "sensitive" areas was called for, Blyth would turn the sequence over to his Chinese counterpart. The Chinese film crew would then film the scene. It was then reviewed by the American team, who would decided if any additional takes were needed.  After two months of scouting, filming began in the fall of 1981<ref name= "Jack"/>. As previously mentioned, the film was shot in CircleVision 360, which required crews to film on nine cameras, which that were stationed on a platform. Imagineers returned to China in the winter to record the seasonal changes, before concluding filming the following spring spring<ref name= "Jack"/>. In order to make the film more interesting, Disney decided to use the famous Chinese poet, Li Bai as the films Wonders of China's narrator. Li Bai (who is known as Li Po in the West) <ref name= "book"> The EPCOT explorer's encyclopedia: R. Pedersen - Epcyclopedia Press - 2011 </ref> wrote over 1,000 poems during the Tang Period<ref name= "Jack"/>. According to director Jeff Blyth:

The completed Wonders of China film was approximately 19 minutes long, and it featured parts of China that had never been seen by most Westerners <ref name= "Jack"/>. The total cost of making the film as just over $1,000,000 <ref name= "times"> https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19820607&id=tvdLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kO4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7014,2843621&hl=en </ref>. The film attraction opened with the rest of World Showcase on October 1, 1982. The film remained unchanged until 2002. By 2002however, China had become both an industrial country and a popular tourist attraction. With these changes, Wonders of China began to seem dated. Imagineers eventually decided that they needed to update the film, and on March 25, 2002 Wonders of China was shown for the final time <ref name= "book"/>.

Jeff Blythe returned to direct the updated film, which would used combine new footage of the country shot in 2002, along with scenes from the original film, and scenes shot in 1981 that had never been used. Imagineer Steve Spiegel wrote the screenplay for the attraction's new scenes <ref name="Chinanews"> http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/43324.htm </ref> Disney's film crews arrived in China in September 2002 for two months of filming<ref name="Chinanews"/>. Joined by filmmakers from the the China Research Institute of Film Science, the team set out to record new footage in seven Chinese cities<ref name="Chinanews"/>. Among the biggest additions to film, were scenes featuring Hong Kong and Macao which were not governed by the Chinese China when the original film was made. In a similar fashion, film crews also reshot Shanhai, which had been modernized in the preceding intervening twenty years. Other scenes, including the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, Beijing, Harbin, and Urumqi were all updated for the 21st century <ref name= "Jack"/>. When commenting on the updated film, Jeff Blyth noted:

In addition to the updated scenes, Reflections of China (as the film would now be called) also received and updated score composed by Richard Bellis <ref name="book"/>. This new score featured new sections added to a revised version of the original Wonders of China score. Finally, although the film was still narrated by Li Po, a new narration was recorded for the film. In the attraction's new scenes, a body double was used to replace original actor Keye Luke, who had passed away in 1991.