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documentary movies about China and Chinese-speaking regions online

Here is the list of Asian educational documentary movies for you to watch online with English subtitles. Subscribe now to watch these educational documentary movies about Asian countries online with 20% off. And stay notified about Asia-related insights & latest offers!

The truth hurts. However, sometimes it inspires inspiration, fear, sadness, humor, or whatever emotions in between.

Documentary is based on real life, real people and events as the object of expression. With the truth it makes people think. The birth of film began with the creation of documentary. In 1895, Louis Lumière from France shot Exiting the Factory and The Arrival of a Train. He also shot other experimental films, and all of these films belong to documentary.

Documentary, news reel film, and non-fiction film share some basic characteristics: authenticity and objectivity. However, there is in fact no absolute objectivity in the creation of all documentary films. They are rather a representation of the historical world. Depending on the purpose of shooting, the film can highlight the function of “recording” and emphasize the connection with the real world. It can also highlight the form and style as a director’s personal artistic creation.

However, regardless of the purpose and function of documentary filming, “documentary ethics” is the norm that all documentary workers abide by. Because documentaries take the real world as the basic material, they have an unavoidable responsibility for the real people and objects recorded in the camera.

Note: There may be other kinds of documentary contents about Asia such as TV series or web series in this category.

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  • Chronicle of Longwang – Li Yifan
  • We Were Smart (Shamate I Love You) – Li Yifan
    • We Were Smart (Shamate I Love You) – Li Yifan
    • We Were Smart (Shamate I Love You) – Li Yifan

    • $299.00
    • The post-90s migrant workers living in China's cities have developed a culture of expressing stress with exaggerated hairstyles, known as the Shamate group. This film chronicles Shamate's emergence and its disintegration over the years.
  • The Lucky Woman – Tseng Wen-Chen
    • The Lucky Woman – Tseng Wen-Chen
    • The Lucky Woman – Tseng Wen-Chen

    • $4.99$299.00
    • Why do they run away? This film tells the stories of undocumented Vietnamese laborers in Taiwan after being forced to flee their employers. How will this lifestyle for over a decade shape their lives?
  • Ants Dynamics – Xu Ruotao
    • Ants Dynamics – Xu Ruotao
    • Ants Dynamics – Xu Ruotao

    • $2.99$299.00
    • A number of artists participated in the rights protection activities of workers of China Telecom in the form of performance art to support their decade-long struggle. As the investigation went on, various contradictions began to appear.
  • Karbala Memoirs (Karbala Katha) – Sourav Sarangi
  • We Will Have Everything – Jiang Nengjie
    • We Will Have Everything – Jiang Nengjie
    • We Will Have Everything – Jiang Nengjie

    • $2.99$199.00
    • Mentally disabled group is large in China, but they rarely appear in ordinary people's vision. With extraordinary patience and love from the charity, can these special people enjoy basic human rights and strive to live independently?
  • Maid for Sale – Dima Al-Joundi
    • Maid for Sale – Dima Al-Joundi
    • Maid for Sale – Dima Al-Joundi

    • $4.99$299.00
    • Sri Lankan women used to be the largest single group of foreign domestic workers in Lebanon. This film chronicles three women and their stories that intertwine charged with hope and despair.
  • Shang’ajia – Jin Jiang
    • Shang’ajia – Jin Jiang
    • Shang’ajia – Jin Jiang

    • $2.99$199.00
    • A group of Lisu people without a registered ID (Hukou) live their primitive life in the mountains by the Nujiang River in Yunnan. In addition to misfortune and hardships, they also have simple happiness.
  • Anrakuto – Hikaru Suzuki
    • Anrakuto – Hikaru Suzuki
    • , ,
    • Anrakuto – Hikaru Suzuki

    • $2.99$139.00
    • Anrakuto tells a real story between a broken Japanese family and an illegal immigrant from South Korea. They find a new balance in their relationship, and together they form an offbeat new family.
  • Bilal – Sourav Sarangi
    • Bilal – Sourav Sarangi
    • Bilal – Sourav Sarangi

    • $4.99$299.00
    • A three-year-old boy named Bilal lives with his blind parents in the slums of Kolkata. Although he is very little, he already knows a lot about life and plays an important role in his family.
  • CHAR… the No-Man’s Island – Sourav Sarangi
    • CHAR… the No-Man’s Island – Sourav Sarangi
    • CHAR… the No-Man’s Island – Sourav Sarangi

    • $4.99$299.00
    • Rubel wants to join school but reality forces him to smuggle across the River Ganges between India and Bangladesh. The same river eroded his home. Now he lives on Char, an island within this river which starts eroding now.
  • Why Not Coming Back – Hui Dapeng
    • Why Not Coming Back – Hui Dapeng
    • Why Not Coming Back – Hui Dapeng

    • $2.99$139.00
    • Most of the remains of the Chinese expeditionary soldiers who fought in Myanmar have not been properly preserved even until today. When can they return home and rest in peace?
  • Jia Yi – Jiang Nengjie
    • Jia Yi – Jiang Nengjie
    • Jia Yi – Jiang Nengjie

    • $2.99$229.00
    • Jiayi is a left-behind child who has to endure the bitter taste of separation from parents. However, she still has to forget sadness and grows up in pain and joy with her brother.
  • The Sichuan Army Veteran Peng Guochen – Jiang Nengjie
  • The Ninth Grade – Jiang Nengjie
    • The Ninth Grade – Jiang Nengjie
    • The Ninth Grade – Jiang Nengjie

    • $2.99$199.00
    • A group of students are at a crossroads in life preparing for the High School Entrance Exam, and most of them are left-behind children. Can they get good grades to change their own destiny?
  • Miners, the Horsekeeper and Pneumoconiosis – Jiang Nengjie
  • Mr. Long Yunsong – Jiang Nengjie
    • Mr. Long Yunsong – Jiang Nengjie
    • Mr. Long Yunsong – Jiang Nengjie

    • $2.99$229.00
    • Kuomintang (KMT) veteran Long Yunsong participated in the Sino-Japanese war by glory, but he is sick and experiences injustice in old age. Can he really be recognized by the state before he dies?
  • Children at a Village School – Jiang Nengjie
    • Children at a Village School – Jiang Nengjie
    • Children at a Village School – Jiang Nengjie

    • $2.99$299.00
    • This documentary is about a school in the mountainous area of Hunan and focuses on left-behind children in three families. Due to contradiction between backward rural appearance and urban development, the fate of the three generations interwoven together.
  • Lost Mountain – Gu Tao
    • Lost Mountain – Gu Tao
    • Lost Mountain – Gu Tao

    • $2.99$279.00
    • Gelibao, a former hunter, raises more than 100 Oroqen hunting horses in the traditional way. One day, his horse is shot by poachers. The sky of Wulubutie has turned to grey...
  • The Opaque God – Gu Tao
    • The Opaque God – Gu Tao
    • The Opaque God – Gu Tao

    • $1.99$149.00
    • The aged Guan Kouni is the last Shaman of Oroqen. She hopes to find a Shaman heir in her lifetime. However, today's young people no longer believe in the God.
  • The Last Moose of Aoluguya – Gu Tao
    • The Last Moose of Aoluguya – Gu Tao
    • The Last Moose of Aoluguya – Gu Tao

    • $2.99$299.00
    • Wejia, an Evenki hunter with moose's lonely temperament feels lost after the government banned hunting. When the spring comes, Weijia enters the original forest and looks for the moose's footprints...
  • Yuguo and His Mother – Gu Tao
    • Yuguo and His Mother – Gu Tao
    • Yuguo and His Mother – Gu Tao

    • $1.99$289.00
    • Yuguo was from the forest in Mongolia and received free education in city with social support. He returns home in the holiday after many years and doesn't know what to do.
  • Aoluguya, Aoluguya – Gu Tao
    • Aoluguya, Aoluguya – Gu Tao
    • Aoluguya, Aoluguya – Gu Tao

    • $1.99$259.00
    • Evenki reindeer herders, a legendary ethnic minority coming from further northern Siberia three hundred years ago, moved into a government-built settlement in 2003 and was banned from hunting. Would the once familiar forest still belong to them?
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