China is in the midst of an automotive revolution and cars are now the ultimate symbol of status and prosperity in a country that is well on its way to becoming the biggest economy in the world. 'The Cars That Ate China' looks at a nation gone car crazy and the impact it has had on Chinese society and global environmental stability. China is already set to become the biggest auto market on earth. Assembly lines are running twenty-four hours a day, and car culture is everywhere - in television ads, glossy magazines, glitzy showrooms and international auto shows with scantily clad models. For foreign car manufacturers and China*s emerging middle class, the new prosperity symbolised by the car is intoxicating. For the future of Chinese society, world stability and the global environment, some of the prospects are worrying. The film follows the stories of a diverse group of characters whose lives have been transformed by the automobile. We will meet a new car owner as she takes her first tentative, white-knuckled ride on the open road; a traffic cop responding to accidents; a migrant worker who sells newspapers and trinkets to drivers in traffic jams; a Western auto executive attempting to break into the Chinese market; a group of rich kids who modify their cars to race illegally on newly-built highways; a brash, fast-talking Ferrari dealer; a used car salesman in the biggest used car lot in the world; and a bicycle riding autoworker who will never be able to afford a car of his own. The story is set against the backdrop of history and is set in Beijing - once called the 'Bicycle Kingdom'. 'The Cars That Ate China' is about a lot more than cars. It*s a portrait of a society caught up in a whirlwind of change that pits newly awoken desires against the social and political realities of modern China.