China in the Red begins in 1998 with Premier Zhu Rongji’s announcement that China’s state-owned enterprises must become profitable within three years. Ten people are then profiled over the course of the years 1998 to 2001, as the country’s dramatic economic changes have a direct effect on their welfare and personal lives. The individuals illustrate a cross-section of Chinese society — employees at state-owned factories, the mayor of Shenyang in China’s industrial northeast, the owner of a thriving small business, a peasant in a small village, a successful Beijing entrepreneur — and both the unforeseen opportunities and social costs of economic reform. After the film, director Sue Williams and Professor Helen F. Siu of Yale University will discuss some of the social and economic issues highlighted in the film as well as the challenges of filming in China.