Various Polynesian people and everyday life in Hawaiian Islands before American involvement in World War 2 and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Women from dominant ethnic backgrounds in Hawaii introduce themselves, including women from Korea, Portugal / Portuguese, China, Phillipines / Filipino, Native Hawaiian, Caucasian / Anglo, Japanese. Narrator describes it as a melting pot. Polynesian children on a long staircase in a village. Group of Hawaiian school children walking to school with some girls wearing Japanese style clog sandals. Diverse crowd of citizens walking on sidewalks of a downtown area of Honolulu near stores and shops. Hawaiian police officer directs traffic. 1930's cars seen on streets. Children in scout uniforms including Girl Scout and Boy Scouts salute. Groups of Hawaiian children playing and relaxing, and seen at desks in school classroom. Graduation ceremony at a high school in Hawaii as graduate young men and women walk by on a stage. Colorful traditions and customs of various cultures in Hawaii are shown. People wearing leis. Women doing various dances including hula and other dancing styles. The Aloha Tower in Honolulu Harbor and scenes of various women from different backgrounds each saying Aloha.
The rise of totalitarianism and Axis powers in the 1930s and its lead up to the Pacific Theater of World War II. “Duce” of Italian Fascism Benito Mussolini making a speech. A superimposed animated cartoon radio antenna emits the word “Lies”. Adolf Hitler making a passionate speech to German troops. A Nazi parade in Germany. Growth of German military budget is shown with an animated diagram. Gathering of troops, army vehicles, artillery, motorcars, tanks, airplanes, and ships of the Axis nations. News headlines about the military budget. Japanese soldiers holding bayonets. Animated map shows the Japanese plan for the invasion of Manchuria. Damaged railroads during a dramatized depiction of the Mukden Incident. The Japanese flag at a mast. Japanese troops advance in Manchuria. Former Emperor of China Puyi becomes the Emperor of Manchukuo. Flag of Manchukuo. Emperor Puyi shake hands with a Japanese military official. United States Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson denounces the Manchurian action. A sign reads: 'Gotham Limited'. Japanese delegates speak during a national meeting. They leave a League of Nations meeting. Horses plowing a field in Iowa. A double decker bus on a road in London. A waiter serving at an al fresco café in Paris. A hut burns as the Japanese advance through Manchuria.
Sino-Soviet conflict over the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway. Representatives of International Commission prepare to travel to the Hailar Front in China. They place the flags of United States, japan, and France on the locomomotive before passing through Chinese lines. Snow covers the ground. The representatives of America, France and Japan, which include women, leave the staff headquarters of General Hu Yu Kun, Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front.
Bomb damage at station Puhetu in Manchuria, China. The club of employees and workmen of the Chinese Eastern Railway at station Puhetu which was damaged due to aircraft bombing on November 29, 1929. A dining car destroyed by a bomb from a Soviet airplane. The remains of an apartment of a railway employee at station Puhetu robbed by Chinese troops on November 29, 1929.
Private villages of Puhetu and Meintuhe in Manchuria, China after they had been pillaged by Chinese troops on 29 November, 1929. Heads of executed marauders hang from a stretched line. Snow covers the ground.
'Red China' depicts the living conditions in China under the Communist regime of Mao Zedong. A Chinese man dances with another performing a Dragon dance on stage in China. Traditional Chinese pavilions and structures, including the Forbidden City in Beijing. Chinese citizens of various ethnicities in the People’s Republic of China. Modern Chinese buildings and structures. A map of Asia shows China. Monuments including the Great Wall in China. Farmland of the North of China. Crowded streets in China, men pull rickshaws on the streets. People dance and march during the celebration. Narrator speaks of shortage of good farmland and notes that the Chinese people are "on a diet" (during the great famine) of 1600 calories daily per person, compared to the United Nations recommendation of 2100-2300 calories. View of crowded encampments and poor, under fed people in narrow streets. Chinese miner works in a coal mine. Strip mining for iron ore. Chinese oil production including refineries. Dances and celebration during various events. Chinese Young Pioneer girls practice ballet. Chinese youth perform acrobatics and stunts on stage. Chinese women and children laugh and cry. Young girls learn ballet, elderly men greet each other. North China: Herdsmen with sheep. Wheat farmers harvest wheat. South China: Rice farmers in fields. Women sew, farmers pose for the camera. Women work in a factory, people on the road. Chinese Christians attend church. Hui Chinese men pray inside a mosque in China. A large statue of Buddha inside a Buddhist temple. Chinese riding camels. Chairman of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong reviews a parade during the "Great Leap Forward" timeframe, preceding the Cultural Revolution.