Great documentary, for 2 reasons:1) Shows the efforts that are needed to achieve greatness. These children and young adults are obviously performing at a physical level beyond what the average person has mastery of, regardless of cultural context. It's so easy to watch the performances and be in awe of the artistry, this show did a great job of illustrating the sheer hard work and determination behind the scenes. I was totally in awe of the little girls ability to overcome her fear of falling on the net; it was great to see how her confidence developed between using the safety lines to the first performance.2) I am such a spoiled American! Some of the other comments compare the body manipulation to torture. Let's all agree that to get an 8 yr old to develop the musculature that the little boy has is not "normal" development. And I'd certainly be crying if someone told me to do reverse crunches while hanging from a wooden rod. But to be fair, none of the language was worse than I've heard on American sports teams or from the beauty-pagent/actor parental set. And there was only one case of a family adult (not parent) speaking poorly of their child. ==
I respectfully disagree that this documentary supports a "commodity of the state" viewpoint, simply b/c it appears that the parents are paying for the children to attend. They were pretty rough on the super hungry boy, but he was there on scholarship, so unfortunately, he was subject to higher standards. We do that in the states for students on university scholarship. I notice they didn't yell as harshly at the guys who dropped the little ones, even when the girl was thrown against the metal bar. As for the torture remarks, really, whose knee was designed to touch their nose? Ouch!Yet this school was for precisely that purpose: to train student's bodies to perform pretty unnatural functions. No pain, no gain, right? I'd venture that the American (or Japanese) ideal of success is very different from the Chinese. Maybe what matters to them is results??What this documentary was lacking in was exploring the students' back story and potential futures. What do the parents hope to gain by sending their children to this school? One parent alluded to his son being not a studying type. Another kid's parents are mute and show their love by feeding their child lots of snacks...What happens to graduates? 4/5 stars b/c as interesting as this was, I still want to know "why?"

This documentary reaffirms my notion that the Chinese culture views it's children/people as nothing more than commodity's of the state.
Sure it's fascinating when you see children so ultra focused that it becomes awe inspiring by their feats of courage. However judging by their methods of teaching that includes tortuous body manipulation and mental abuse. It becomes apparent that this is nothing more than a lesson in inhumane practice.
Unlike Japanese culture in which the individual personally strives for excellence at a single focus of commitment and beauty. This proves my theory of a races that is beyond insecure that it needs to compete at every level. Even in art. Which by definition should not be a competition.
I was a lone voice that found the opening ceremonies of the Olympics more disturbing than wondrous. Judging by what I just saw in this documentary. I can only imagine the retribution to those that could not deliver to a country so ill equipped to handle failure on any level.I appreciate this documentary for what it showed. Not what they can do....

I enjoyed this inside look at what it takes to become an "effortless" performer of the acrobatic arts, but I was uncomfortable with the methods teachers used to push their students. In a previous review, the point was brought up that those of us who don't speak the language can't be certain we are reading an accurate translation and we also lack the cultural understanding to judge the actions and words within their proper context. Still, the clips of crying chidren need no translation to understand they were suffering. I guess the real question becomes whether young children possess enough self-awareness and self-determination to pursue artistic excellence despite the grueling conditioning and harsh treatment for their own satisfaction or whether they are pushed into it by adults eager to exploit their talents? Can they do it? As this video demonstrates, the very youngest children CAN become extraordinary athletes/artists, but SHOULD they do it remains to be answered.

I felt as well the strange conflicting feeling of torture. A action and word the belies the real sub-current of just where to place your attention these days(torture). But, again, with this single-minded focus.(And now the ball bounces to "swine flu") Opps, gotta gather up the infected, more gov' control, going to extend the pwrs of said gov. I bring this up of course due to region, our minds have been properly teased by socialism....in all of these programs what is the one over-arching theme in which we are being "proded"? It looks good if guided by love and an inclusion for all of us.It looks good if we can finally use tech today to pwr our world now...and the thing is, it's there! Now. But, it's not being used. The entrenchment of...how should we say? Old World Technologies?" Has played the upper hand and knows' for certain thier ultimate demise. It's that transistion we need to keep ourselves together in.

I'm loving this series, great peak into parts of different cultures we normally wouldn't see.

Hulu, thank you for making this available. I am, however, disappointed in the ethnocentric comments. The people these comments belong to have the "luxury" of thinking that what they witnessed here was "torture" or that they somehow have intrinsic insight into who should and shouldn't procreate. It is easier to assign judgement to these parents than it is to, say, learn the language and actually see if the translation given to you was accurate. You have no idea about this specific subculture and its standards or motivations.