Changes
/* Wonders of China */
| custom_label_1 = Formally Known As
| custom_value_1 = Wonders of China
|custom_label_2= FastPass Disney Genie +
|custom_value_2= No
|custom_label_3= Budget
Reflections of China is a movie located within the [[China]] pavilion, within [[Epcot]].
==Attraction History==
When Imagineers initially conceived the China pavilion, plans for what would eventually become Reflections of China originally called for the film to be shown on a standard theater screen <ref name= "Martin2"> http://www.martinsvids.net/ </ref>. EventuallySubsequently, however, the attraction was developed into a CircleVision 360 film. In order to create the attraction, Imagineers a ''MacGillivray Freeman Films'' crew led by director Jeff Blyth traveled to China in to 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 put strict restrictions of Disney's film crew, including making the Great Wall and Tibet off limits.
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 representatives from China the film Fantasia<ref name= "Jack"/>. This showing seemingly helped convince the Chinese government to loosen their restrictions, and Disney was given more autonomy. As part of this the new agreement, when shots of China's "sensitive" areas was called for, Blyth would turn the sequence over to his Chinese counterpart<ref name= "Jack"/>. The Chinese film crew would then film the scene, before it was reviewed by the American team, who would then 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, 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 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:
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>}}
In the film, Li Po was played by Chinese actor Shih Kuan, whose voice was then overdubbed by Keye Luke. 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 attraction opened with the rest of World Showcase [[EPCOT Center]] on October 1, 1982. By 2002 however, 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 combine new footage of the country shot in 2002, with scenes from the original film, 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 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 China when the original Wonders of China film was made. In a similar fashion, film crews also reshot ShanhaiShanghai, which 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"/>. When commenting on the updated film, Jeff 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 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 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 LukeShi 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. In 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 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 filming of Wonders of China]]
Reflections of China showcases many of China's cultural and natural landmarks. The scenes in the current version of Reflections of China arefilm depict:
* The Great Wall at Jinshanling
* Gobi Desert, Gansu Province
[[Image:WondersofChinaposter.jpg|270px|thumb|A poster for the Tokyo Disneyland version of '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"/>.
* 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"/>
* Wonders of China was occasionally referred to by the longer title "Wonders of China- Land of Beauty, Land of Time <ref> https://www.disneydocs.net/_files/ugd/5db718_0b875a96406e4bc4a103b184e3d1dc11.pdf </ref>
==References==
