A new, 12-part Chinese documentary on the rise and fall of major powers is clearly an effort by China to prepare itself to become a leading nation. But it also contains not-so-subtle questions about the country's readiness to be a major power.
The documentary, titled The Rise of the Great Powers, took CCTV three years to produce. It has been shown on prime time nationwide, and has had a significant impact in China.
The documentary takes a serious look at how nine countries - Portugal, Spain, Holland, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States - became key world powers at various times over the past 500 years.
By talking to prominent people in the various countries - including Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former British foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe and Paul Kennedy, author of the book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - the documentary tries to analyse the factors that enabled those nations to step to the front of the world stage.
While it does not talk about China, the documentary clearly contains many lessons for the country. For one thing, there is considerable emphasis on the importance of innovation and independent thinking - something for which China has not been known since the communists took power in 1949.
For example, while China has produced many prominent writers, such as Ba Jin and Cao Yu, their best writings were before 1949. Since the communists took power, creativity has been curbed as writers were turned into instruments of propaganda.