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Writers usually record their lives and the places they live in on paper, but this time 10 Chinese writers are using a TV screen to show the cities where they live.
The 10 documentaries, each 30 minutes long, look at Beijing, Yinchuan, Hangzhou, Changsha, Guiyang, Harbin, Chengdu, Shanghai and Dalian through the unique perception of the writers.
Completed as a joint effort with a crew from China Central Television , the documentary will start its run on the station's Channel One later this month.
"Documentaries about cities that document the development of human civilization through the eyes of writers could be food for thought," well-known writer Feng Jicai said, despite the fact that the Tianjin-based writer did not take part in the activity because of other commitments.
Documentary Producer Chen Xiaoqing said: "We chose cities as the subject for this serial because they are the process and end of modernization. Cities are places where cultural conflicts, new ideas, pressure on existence, a lot of new things take place and they witness changes as well."
At the same time, the writers were asked to give their own perspectives on their cities because "they could keep a distance from their home base and may have looked at things more objectively," Chen said.
Tremendous changes have taken place in most Chinese cities since the late 1970s when the country initiated its process of opening up and economic reforms. Many are not what they used to be in terms of their appearance.
However, the good old days remain somewhere in the minds of many people and especially the 10 writers, who are in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
In the documentaries, the writers tell how the changes of the cities have affected their lives and psychology and how they feel about the changes.
Beijing-based writer Liu Xinwu said: "It seems that you were not aware that you had grown up and had got used to the changes taking place around you, but when you look back to the old days and to the changes, you feel sad."
Recalling the old Beijing and his days in the city seems to touch upon a psychological nerve in the veteran writer.
Zhang Xianliang, who was exiled during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and then stayed in Yinchuan, capital city of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said in the documentary the water and soil in the city had already melted into his blood and his fate was closely connected with the city's.
To this city, Zhang is not a native, but he loves the place more than many of the people who were born and grew up there.
He tries to unravel every part of the city with his strong sentiment of joy and sorrow in the documentary.
Li Hangyu, who was born and grew up in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang Province, said he is more puzzled about the city now than ever before.
"I don't know what is happening in many parts of the city and it is no longer the city I used to love so much," he said.
"I am trying to develop a liking for this city that is becoming alien to me."
He Liwei said he has moved many times, but is still in the city of Changsha, the capital of Central China's Hunan Province. In the process of moving around, he feels the rhythm of life in the city.
Fang Fang, the only woman writer chosen to do the documentary, compares Wuhan, the capital city of Central China's Hubei Province, to an unfolded book.
"The Yangtze River that divides the city in the middle is like the spine of the book, while the streets by the two sides of the river are the unfolded pages," she said. "When I am walking through the city streets or lanes, it seems as though I am reading about the book."
Li Kuanding went to Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou Province, 23 years ago to start his literary career, when he was in his early 20s. He has stayed there and written about life there ever since.
A'Cheng, from Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said he would often take a ferry to the northern bank of the Songhua River and find a quiet place to sit and meditate on his days gone by. He would also think about what had taken place in the city.
Writer Deng Xian is based in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
He said: "If the city of Chengdu could be regarded as a lake, I would be a fish swimming back to the lake from the sea. If the city could be compared to a valley shrouded in forests, I would be a bird flying back to the valley from outside the mountain -- I love my hometown Chengdu."
Sun Ganlu from Shanghai said he used to work as a mailman at a post office for 10 years in the 1970s. The job offered him an opportunity to see the city's lanes and streets on a bike.
"If I wrote a biography, it would be titled 'On a Bicycle,"' he said.
Deng Gang from Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, said he loved the old city, the one before he turned 40 years old.
However, he has become more of a stranger to the new city of Dalian.
Li Hui, a writer and one of the initiators of the documentary, said: "Cities are changing all the time, even an old resident could feel like a stranger to his city. So it is of significance to make these documentaries, which will lead the audience into these cities from the angles the writers use to view their own cities and the changes in particular they experienced in the cities.
"In 10 or 20 years or even many more years to come when people watch this documentary, they will have their own perspectives about these cities."
(China Daily January 7, 2003)
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