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Viewing China from Afar: The Story Behind Project Beautiful Country

By PR Newswire

SAN FRANCISCO, June 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Through the documentary Viewing China from Afar: The Story Behind Project Beautiful Country, produced by People’s Daily Online West USA, audiences are introduced to filmmaker Sunny Zhao, who has spent decades in a commitment to preserving the history of Chinese railroad workers in the United States.

Rather than presenting a conventional historical account, this episode of Viewing China from Afar follows Zhao’s journey as the director of Project Beautiful Country, a documentary project dedicated to uncovering and documenting the experiences of Chinese laborers who helped build America’s first Transcontinental Railroad. Through Zhao’s research, fieldwork, and storytelling, viewers gain a deeper understanding of how overlooked histories are recovered, preserved, and passed on to future generations.

The film begins in San Francisco, the gateway through which many Chinese immigrants first entered the United States during the nineteenth century. From there, it follows Zhao who retraces the paths of Chinese railroad workers through Chinatown, Sacramento, and historic sites along the railroad corridor. Museums, archival collections, cultural landmarks, and landscapes connected to the railroad era provide a vivid backdrop for both Zhao’s research and the story of the workers whose legacy Zhao seeks to preserve.

In this episode of Viewing China from Afar: The Story Behind Project Beautiful Country, audiences follow filmmaker Sunny Zhao, director of Project Beautiful Country, as Zhao revisits a long-neglected chapter of American history. Through historical research, field exploration, and personal storytelling, Zhao examines the experiences of Chinese immigrant laborers whose contributions to the development of the United States were often marginalized or omitted from mainstream historical narratives.

Beginning in San Francisco, where many Chinese immigrants first arrived, the film follows the geographic and historical path of the workers, moving through Chinatown, Sacramento, and key locations along the railroad route.

Today, growing efforts across California and the United States are helping to preserve and recognize this heritage through museums, educational programs, historical research, and public memorials.

The film follows *Project Beautiful Country* director Sunny Zhao, whose more than two decades of research and documentation have helped preserve the history of Chinese railroad workers and bring their long-overlooked contributions to light.

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SOURCE People’s Daily Online WEST USA

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