The National Centre for Performing Arts or The Egg.

China may soon be the next superpower with its economic weight and as a tourist in China, you might feel that people are free, being able to own things and work as they want. But I tend to judge a country's level of freedom by the way they treat the press. China is still afraid of journalists. We came to do a simple cultural programme, featuring a famous piano player Youndi Yi. But we weren't able to bring in our own equipment because the Chinese put a high temporary import tax on cameras. So we had to rent gear in China. You also have to work with a local production company or have someone from the government accompany you everywhere you go. So, not exactly a press-friendly place.

Despite the lack of freedom, China is a wonderful place. Beijing is a big modern city with clean streets and dazzling lights. The people are friendly and the whole thing makes you want to go out and learn Chinese!


Maybe one fact leading to China's economic success was its one-child rule to reduce its population. Established in 1979 by Deng Xiaoping, the law was meant to be temporary, but is still in place a quarter of a century later. The law has maybe had its economic effect but does have secondary social effects. The Chinese prefer to have a boy and there have been many cases of ending a pregnancy if it is a girl. Now there are many young men left without hope of finding a bride and many young women enjoying a good education, social mobility and a large choice of future mates.

Everyone gets along in Azerbaijan

I'm here to film a report for Euronews on the Intercultural Dialogue Forum. Azerbaijan is really at the crossroads of many cultures. To illustrate the story, we filmed four different religious ceremonies, Jewish, Russian Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim. Having been to four different religious prayers in one day, I should have all bases covered for the afterlife.


It would be nice if religions were always that open. As one delegate said, the problem isn't religion... it is those who try to use religion for their own political purposes. The church, synagogue and mosque invited us in and were very hospitable. At the synagogue, mosque and orthodox church I was allowed to film anywhere and I did try to get a lot of different angles. Only the catholic church said I could only film from the back of the church.


The last time I was in Baku, I was in the Soviet Union. Today, this vibrant city of four and a half million is unrecognisable from that not so distant past. With new oil wealth, the city is being completely revamped. New construction seems to follow a building code to respect the architectural heritage of the city. The old soviet style buildings are all being torn down. Parks and façades are beautifully lit at night as the cool evening air off the Caspian sea rolls in.

The talk at the forum is of cultural diversity, acceptance of each other and tolerance. Azerbaijan was one of the first nations to give women the vote. But the crossroads of culture is sadly also a battlefield of politics. The explosive Caucus region is to the north, with Tchetchnya and Ossetia. Iran is to the south. Azerbaijan is still at war, albeit a cease-fire, with Armenia. Tolerance and acceptance have a lot to do with being able to eat well, work and discuss freely. 
You can see the report here:
http://www.euronews.net/2011/04/08/azerbaijan-a-forum-for-intercultural-dialogue/