Reflections of China is a movie located within the [[China]] pavilion, within [[Epcot]].
==Attraction History==
In When Imagineers initially conceived the late 1970sChina pavilion, with most plans for what would eventually become Reflections of the planning China originally called for World Showcase completethe film to be shown on a standard theater screen <ref name= "Martin2"> http://www.martinsvids.net/ </ref>. Subsequently, however, Disney approached the Peopleattraction was developed into a CircleVision 360 film. In order to create the attraction, a 's Republic of 'MacGillivray Freeman Films'' crew led by director Jeff Blyth traveled to China about creating to film a travelogue video for the China pavilion style movie <ref name= "Jack"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/walt_disney_world/theme_parks/epcot/china/ </ref>. Although interestedInitially, the Chinese government was concerned about giving Westerners permission to film interested in partnering with Disney, but was uncomfortable with Western crews filming their country. In fact, China originally insisted that all Because of Disney’s filming be strictly supervisedthis, and they refused to let Imagineers take aerial shots at the outset, the government put strict restrictions of Tibet or Disney's film crew, including making the Great Wall <ref name= "Jack"/>. Disney was uncomfortable with this agreement, and after showing Chinese officials the movie Fantasia, they were able to acquire more freedom<ref name= "Jack"/>Tibet off limits.
After two months of scoutingAs Disney and China continued to negotiate over filming restrictions, filming of little progress was being made. In a last ditch effort to attain more creative freedom, Disney showed representatives from China the film began in the fall of 1981Fantasia<ref name= "Jack"/>. The film was shot in Circle Vision 360, which required crews This showing seemingly helped convince the Chinese government to film on nine camerasloosen their restrictions, which were stationed on a platformand Disney was given more autonomy. Imagineers returned to China in As part of the winter new agreement, when shots of 1982China's "sensitive" areas was called for, Blyth would turn the sequence over to record the seasonal changes, before concluding filming in the springhis Chinese counterpart<ref name= "Jack"/>. In order to make The Chinese film crew would then film the film more interestingscene, Disney decided to use before it was reviewed by the famous Chinese poetAmerican team, Li Bai as the films narrator. Li Bai (who is known as Li Po in the West) <ref name= "book"> The EPCOT explorer's encyclopedia: Rwould then decided if any additional takes were needed. Pedersen - Epcyclopedia Press - 2011 </ref> wrote over 1,000 poems during the Tang Period<ref name= "Jack"/>. According to director Jeff Blyth:
After two months of scouting, the filming of Reflections of China 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, that were stationed on a platform. Imagineers returned to China in the winter of 1981 to record the seasonal changes, before concluding filming the following spring <ref name= "Jack"/>. To narrate the film, Blyth decided to use the famous Chinese poet, Li Bai. 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:
[[Image:LiPo.jpg|400px|thumb| Li Bai served as Wonders of China's narrator.]]
{{Quotation|I chose Li Po, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, to be our guide and on-camera narrator. This might seem like the equivalent of using Shakespeare to narrate a film on present day England, but I deliberately chose a historic figure so that the words he spoke would not seem to some conservative members of the audience like the official party line. <ref name="casting"> Viner, Michael, and Terrie Maxine. Frankel. Tales from the Casting Couch: An Unprecedented Candid Collection of Stories, Essays, and Anecdotes by and about Legendary Hollywood Stars, Starlets, and Wanna-bes--. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove, 1995. Print. Pages 68-69 </ref>}}
The completed Wonders of China In the film , Li Po was approximately 19 minutes long, and it featured parts of China that had never been seen played by most Westerners <ref name= "Jack"/>. The total cost of making the film as just over $1Chinese actor Shih Kuan,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 opened with the rest of World Showcase on October 1, 1982. The film remained unchanged until 2002. By 2002, 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 the Wonders of China whose voice was shown for the final time <ref name= "book"/>then overdubbed by Keye Luke.
On May 23The completed Wonders of China film was approximately 19 minutes long, 2003 an updated version 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 attraction opened with the rest of [[EPCOT Center]] on October 1, 1982. By 2002, China had become both an industrial country and a popular tourist attraction. With these changes, Wonders of China made its debut in began to seem dated. Imagineers eventually decided that they needed to update the film, and on March 25, 2002 Wonders of China pavilion was shown for the final time <ref name= "Jackbook"/>. The Jeff Blythe returned to direct the updated film, which would combine new footage of the country shot in 2002, with scenes from the original film, known as Reflections and scenes shot in 1981 that had never been used. Disney's film crews arrived in China in September 2002 for two months of filming<ref name="Chinanews"/>. Joined by filmmakers from the the ChinaResearch Institute of Film Science, now featured 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 Kongand Macao which were not governed by China when the original Wonders of China film was made. In a similar fashion, film crews also reshot Shanghai, and Macauwhich had been modernized in the 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"/>. For When commenting on the refurbishmentupdated film, all of Blyth noted: {{Quotation| "The biggest difference is that 20 years ago we had permission to film on these locations, but people did not really understand what we were doing. We did not get as much cooperation as we are getting now"<ref name="Chinanews"/>}} In addition to the narration was re-dubbedupdated scenes, Reflections of China (as the film would now be called) also received and a new updated score was composed by Richard Bellis <ref name= "book"/>. This 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 Shi Kuan, who was too old to reprise his role. A new actor was brought in to overdub Po's narration throughout the entire film, as Keye Luke had passed away in 1991. Since 2003In total, Reflections of China is six minutes shorter than its predecessor. Reflections of China officially opened to guests on May 23, 2003. Since this time, the attraction has not experienced seen any major changes. At the 2017 D23 Expo however, Walt Disney Imagineering's Vice President and Senior Creative Executive Tom Fitzgerald announced that Disney would be creating a new Circle-Vision film for the [[China]] pavilion. According to Disney, the new film will be the first shot using a "next-generation digital camera system" <ref> https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2017/07/new-film-at-china-pavilion-in-epcot-will-feature-new-technology/ </ref>. It is unclear at this time what relation, if any, the new film will have to the current Reflections of China film.
==Film Plot <ref name= "Jack"/>==
[[Image:ReflectionsofChinafilimng.jpg|400px|thumb|The scenes in the current version filming of Wonders of China]]Reflections of China areshowcases many of China's cultural and natural landmarks. The scenes in the film depict:
* The Great Wall at Jinshanling
* Gobi Desert, Gansu Province
[[Image:WondersofChinaposter.jpg|270px|thumb|A poster for Disneyland's Wonders of China]]
* Inner Mongolia
==Cast and Crew==
===Wonders of China==='''Keye LukeKuan Shih'''- Li Bai (In Reflections of China a look-alike was used for the new scenesBody) <refname="imdb"> httphttps://2719hyperionwww.blogspotimdb.com/2011title/02tt0084915/saturday-at-archives-farewell-to-friend.html fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast </ref>
'''Leon ChooluckKeye Luke'''- Production Manager Li Bai (Wonders of ChinaVoice) <ref name= "times"> Blyth, Jeff. “INTERVIEW WITH JEFF BLYTH, DIRECTOR OF REFLECTIONS OF CHINA.” Tiara Talk Show, Mar. 2014. </ref>
'''Jeff BlytheBlyth'''- Director/Writer (both films) <ref name= "D23"/> <ref name= "times"/> '''Leon Chooluck'''- Production Manager <ref name= "times"/> '''Greg MacGillivray'''- Producer <ref> https://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/29/a-former-disney-imagineers-guide-to-epcots-world-showcase/ </ref> '''Peter Anderson'''- Visual Effects <ref name="imdb"/> '''Woody Mu'''- Sound Recording <ref name="imdb"/>===Reflections of China=== '''Jeff Blyth'''-Director <ref name= "D23"/> '''Steve Spiegel''' Writer <ref name="Chinanews"> http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/43324.htm </ref>
==Fun Facts and Trivia==
===Wonders of China===
* When filming the Huangshan Mountain sequence, over three dozen locals were hired to lift a 300-pound camera up 16,700 stone steps <ref name= "Jack"/>.
* In Wonders of China guests could see the Peking Opera Company perform The Monkey King Raises Havoc in Heaven <ref name= "times"/>
* To make the scene seem more natural, in Wonders of China, actors were used instead of real tourists in the Great Wall scene <ref name= "times"/>
==References==
