What is the best way to introduce China to the outside
world?
The answer may be "China Up Close," a series of 18 documentary
films touring around colleges and embassies in China's major
cities.
The film crew works with top documentary film making companies
and channels, including Discovery, National Geography and PBS.
Liang Peng is a producer working for China Intercontinental
Communication Centre (CICC), the media company that initiated the
programme. Yuan Lili, vice director of the centre, had the idea of
co-operating with international media to shoot documentary films
about China back in 1994.
As China's economy and society develops rapidly during recent
years, the world wants to know more about China.
"But with the difference in language and ways of thinking and
expression, it is hard for the made-in-China documentary films to
be widely accepted in Western countries, so we try to view China
with our audience's eyes. And the best way to do this is to
co-operate with international teams," Yuan said.
Audience rating surged when "Great Wall" and "Beijing Makeover,"
two of their productions, were shown on Discovery Asia and United
States.
"When 'Beijing Makeover' about the 2008 Olympics was broadcast
in Discovery Asia, the audience rating increased a lot and even
doubled in some regions," said Zhang Fang, China country manager of
Discovery Networks Asia.
Discovery started co-operating with CICC two years ago. They
have co-produced five films about the man-made marvels in Beijing,
Shanghai, Hangzhou and Tibet.
And what has made the films popular wihtin Discovery's audience,
in Zhang's opinion, is the audience-friendly view.
"China does have many good directors," he said, "but Western
audiences have totally different cultural backgrounds. So with
Discovery's understanding of the global audience and CICC's
understanding of China, the films meet the audiences' tastes."
The 18 films shown this time are selected from all of the
documentary films on China out of CICC'S cooperation with
international companies over the past 10 years.
Categorized as "history and culture," "travel and experience"
and "man-made marvels," the films tell colourful stories not only
about China's traditions but also modern daily life.
"These films are more objective and comprehensive than those of
its kind we have seen before," said Zhong Dafeng, a professor at
Beijing Film Academy. "This way they can communicate more
effectively with Western viewers."
After the tour show around China, which will end on November 30,
the films will be shown at international documentary film festivals
such as the RealScreen Summit in the United States, Hot Docs in
Canada and MIP Doc in France. All of the films will be broadcast on
Discovery, National Geography, PBS and BBC.
(China Daily November 25, 2006)