I'm watching 'For Peace' 为了和平, the 20-part CCTV documentary on China's role in Korean War, so you don't have to. Episode 1 done... only 19 hours to go! #lipsandteeth

Most notable elision is how North Korea/DPRK/Kim Il Sung is almost completely written out of the narrative. Kim is mentioned once in passing, halfway in, no images of him at all. Who started it is dodged by saying, 'The Korean Civil War erupted on June 25, 1950.'

Sadly, no North Korea veterans or historians interviewed and no DPRK documents cited. By contrast, Seoul National University historian Park Tae-gyun does appear, and there is b-roll of Incheon and Seoul today... none from North Korea. 可惜

Prominent US, PRC, Russian historians also appear, including Bruce Cummings, William Stueck, Rana Mitter, Alexander Vorontsov. Lots of PRC researchers and vets. The painfully obvious lacuna is China's doyen of Korean War/ Cold War studies, the great Shen Zhihua. 真可惜

Xi Jinping gets cameos at the beginning, to remind us Korea was a 'just war', and the end, to promise China will stick up for world peace. His pops Xi Zhongxun even gets a cameo, as recipient of Mao telegram

Mao Zedong is hagiographied as a strategic genius up late worrying about the people. Footage I'd never seen of his son, Mao Anying, and moving interview with his widow.

America is the imperialist bad guy, plain and simple, embodied by MacArthur. Manipulating the United Nations, bombing civilians in Andong, secretly bent on helping Taiwan get the mainland back.