《Wild China》 is the first joint production by China Central Television and the British Broadcasting Corporation. It captured more than 56 national wildlife and scenic reserves, 86 species of China's rare wild animals and plants, and more than 30 ethnic groups.Life stories show China’s natural and cultural landscape.The shooting lasted for 4 years, using advanced photography technologies such as aerial photography, infrared, high-speed, time-lapse and underwater, and recorded a large number of precious and wonderful pictures.

《Wild China》is divided into《Splendid South China》,《Clouds in the Sky》,《Magical Plateau》《Beyond the Wind and Snow Wall》《Fertile Central Plains》《Tidal Coast》-Six episodes (the names of the BBC English version correspond to 《Rich South China》, 《South of Colorful Clouds》, 《Qinghai-Tibet Plateau》, 《Beyond the Great Wall》, 《Dragon's Territory》, 《Noisy Coast》); The entire film captures more than 50 national wildlife and scenic reserves in China, 86 species of China's rare wild animals and plants, and more than 30 ethnic life stories, showing China's natural and cultural landscape.

Behind the scenes

2008 Beijing Olympics to BBCThe Department of Natural History offers an opportunity to produce the first series on the natural history of China.At the same time, with the Olympic Games being held, Chinese officials also hope to attract more tourists.In 2005, the BBC production team received official permission to film jointly with China Television Media.This is also the first time CCTV has cooperated with the BBC Natural History Channel.

The filming of this series lasted for more than 16 months, traveling more than 500,000 kilometers and going deep into the hinterland of China for 57 independent shootings.The production team shot more than 500 hours of HD scripts in 26 provinces in China.Despite obtaining permission to film in many remote protected areas in China, the film crew still faced the number one problem of capturing wild animals.Although protected areas cover 15“ of China's territory, this is not enough to ensure the safety of wild animals, and protected areas often lack equipment and personnel.The film crew's attempts to photograph wildlife are not always smooth sailing. There are also conflicts and mutual distrust between the Chinese and British teams, and the shooting concepts are sometimes inconsistent.

More than 80” of the film was shot in the wild using traditional observation methods.Most of these areas are the most remote places in China: bidding farewell to biologists, the film crew became the first humans to arrive in the most remote northern grassland-Qiangtang Reserve in the past 100 years.After a five-day trip from Lhasa, the biggest challenge faced by the film crew was to photograph Tibetan antelopes in estrus at an altitude of 5,000 meters and at -30°C.After seven days, the film crew successfully captured a fight between two male Tibetan antelopes.After two failed attempts to photograph wild giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains, the film crew moved to another protected area, the Changqing Nature Reserve. Here, the film crew captured the activities of giant pandas in winter and completely recorded wild giant pandas for the first time.Courtship and mating activities of pandas.Producer Kathryn Jeffs and photographer Paul Stewart went to the remote Gaoligong Mountains in western Yunnan. After a three-hour ride on an ox cart, they arrived at the ridge and captured a bird's-eye view of the forest and a group of macaques foraging on the canopy.Another set of footage shows a rare group of white-eared pheasants performing a swarming display that was terminated by disturbance.

The film also uses special techniques to shoot some shots: when filming a canary escaping from the predation of a Central Asian viper on Snake Island, a high-speed camera was used to capture a shot whose speed was reduced by 80 times.Infrared illumination was used to photograph black langurs and flat-headed bats.Thermal imaging cameras were used when photographing Amorphophallus konjac in southern Yunnan.

Work evaluation

《Wild China》 is a model for documentary creation in terms of technique, content, and spirit. It vividly and profoundly demonstrates how natural documentaries should rise from a documentary character to a thinking character, triggering people's understanding of man and nature.Pay attention to examination and deep reflection.At the same time, as ordinary viewers, when appreciating nature documentaries, people cannot simply stay at the shock of the appearance. They should have a kind of thinking character and appreciate and think about the beauty shown in nature documentaries from a higher perspective., stunning visual language.(People's Daily Online Review)