Only One Earth

Synopsis

“Only One Earth” (只有一个地球) is a pioneering Chinese environmental documentary series presented in four parts. The project was produced by CCTV with support from state environmental authorities (then the National Environmental Protection Agency, now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment), but it did not pass censorship and was not permitted to air. (It was originally planned to premiere on the first celebrated Earth Day in China in 1990.) It approaches ecological crisis through an experimental, essayistic lens shaped by the concerns of reform-era Chinese intellectuals, confronting the toll of global industrialization. Directed by Chen Jue (a member of SWYC, the same collective behind the following year's banned Tiananmen series), Only One Earth uses literary, academic, and archival materials alongside a visual style influenced by experimental cinema.