| "China" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 10 |
| Directed by | Charles McDougall |
| Written by | |
| Cinematography by | Matt Sohn |
| Editing by | Claire Scanlon |
| Production code | 7010[1] |
| Original air date | December 2, 2010 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
"China" is the tenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 136th episode overall. It originally aired on NBC on December 2, 2010. The episode was written by Halsted Sullivan and Warren Lieberstein, and directed by Charles McDougall. The episode guest stars Mark Proksch as Nate and Hugh Dane as Hank.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) reads an article about China growing as a global power and decides it must be stopped before it takes over the United States. Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) threatens to move the office into a new building after everyone complains about Dwight Schrute's (Rainn Wilson) lax building standards. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) is sick of Andy Bernard's (Ed Helms) annoying text messages.
The episode received largely positive reviews from television critics, many of whom felt that the confrontation between Oscar and Michael was realistic and humorous. "China" was viewed by 7.31 million viewers and received a 3.7 rating among adults between the age of 18 and 49, marking a slight drop in the ratings when compared to the previous week. Despite this, the episode was the highest-rated NBC series of the night that it aired, as well as the highest-rated non-sports NBC broadcast for the week it aired.