Archaeological sites, etc., present to the audience a "feast" of Chinese civilization archeology - the large-scale documentary "Why China".
"Why China", directed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, has not only received high ratings and good reputation since its premiere, but has also won widespread praise in the archaeological community.
How to use documentary lenses to "resurrect" the ruins and let the cultural relics "speak"? How did modern Chinese archeology, which has gone through more than a hundred years, achieve this large-scale "cross-border" and "out of the circle"? What new knowledge and insights can this documentary bring to the audience? The reporter recently conducted an exclusive interview with the creative team of the documentary "Why China".
“Only when the project started did I realize that I had oversimplified the problem.”
Coming from the distant Qin Dynasty, the family letters sent by the brothers “Heifu” and “Jing” during their march more than 2,000 years ago have miraculously been preserved to this day. More than 20 centuries later, although the official script on the wooden slip has long been mottled, the brothers' concern for the entire extended family can be seen between the lines.
Video screenshot: The documentary presents the bamboo slips unearthed from the Suihudi site in Yunmeng, Hubei. The first episode of
"Qin and Han" begins with a focus on historical figures who have been re-recognized by modern people due to archaeological excavations. Beginning with the wooden family letters discovered in Suihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei, it shows the process of the Chinese nation pursuing "the same text in writing and the same track in carriages" during the Qin and Han dynasties, towards the unification of the country.
"Why China" chief director Qian Chao and associate professor Qin Ling of the School of Archeology and Museology of Peking University recalled to reporters that after the project was launched in 2021, "I realized that I had oversimplified the problem" because it was obviously not possible to list the latest archaeological results one by one. The "audio-visual" transformation that can be easily completed is an unprecedented exploration.
"I did millions of words of desk work alone, and wrote 400,000 words of scripts. Some chapters even changed their drafts ten times." Qin Ling said.
"In order to restore the archaeological site, some pictures were revised for more than 40 drafts, and they only appeared for a few seconds." Qian Chao added that archaeologists spend most of their time in the field. Good at words. Moreover, the team decided to use a "non-interview" narrative from the beginning, presented by the narrator's voice-over and the actors' restoration of the live performance. Therefore, how to transform various professional terms and scientific data into documentaries that ordinary people can understand has always been a challenge for the creative team.
"This is a shooting that is unimaginable in a lifetime"
When the archaeological site becomes a heritage park, and the cultural relics are integrated into the museum, the stories behind the ruins and cultural relics seem to have entered the "palace". And "Why China" hopes to create "a completely different feeling from the museum." There are more than 230 shooting points distributed in 20 provinces across the country, and even archaeologists can hardly reach them one by one.
"During the filming process, we went as far as the Ili grassland of Xinjiang, and sometimes several filming teams started working in multiple places at the same time. We increasingly realized that this was a rare and unrepeatable shooting, with a large number of cultural relics gathered in front of the camera, The excavation sites of some important sites were completely restored. Many archaeologists said to me excitedly, 'This is a shooting that is unimaginable in a lifetime.'" Gan Chao recalled.
Li Xinwei, director of the Prehistoric Archeology Research Office of the Institute of Archeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in the third episode of "Stars", the film crew cleverly presented different regions such as Xipo, Dawenkou, Lingjiatan, and Niuheliang in the middle Neolithic Age. The exchange of production, life and beliefs between countries truly shows that the splendid Chinese civilization "blooms a flower that is intrinsically connected to each other", and "flower" and "hua" have the same origin, which is also an expression of the origin of the Chinese nation.
Among the new archaeological discoveries in the past ten years, the "Tomb No. 07m23" at the Lingjiatan site in Hanshan, Anhui is quite shocking. There were more than 300 jade artifacts buried with the tomb, which demonstrated the status and dignity of the tomb owner. The film crew invited archaeologists Wu Weihong and Zhang Xiaolei to completely reconstruct the process and overall picture of the jade artifacts buried with them, combined with archaeological excavation records.
Video screenshot: Archaeologists deduce the "restored" scene of the initial placement of jade artifacts buried in Tomb No. 07m23 at the Lingjiatan site in Hanshan, Anhui.
Most cultural relics are properly stored in special warehouses after being unearthed, but in "Why China", the cultural relics are presented in the way they were originally used, returning to a state closer to their original state.
"We want to explore the characteristics and spirit immersed in blood"
On the day "Why China" premiered, on December 9, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage released the latest results of the Chinese Civilization Discovery Project. It was mentioned at the press conference: "The era of the ancient country can be further divided into three stages."
"The Ancient Country" is also an important chapter of "Why China". In this episode, the structural layout of the Liangzhu Water Conservancy Project will be restored using 3D modeling technology. Wang Ningyuan, an archaeologist who participated in the virtual restoration of the ancient city of Liangzhu and some of the sacrificial scenes, said excitedly that "this filming is the best so far."
Video screenshot: The crew used three-dimensional modeling technology to "restore" the overlooking scene of Liangzhu.
The Chinese nation has a long history and splendid culture. What is the inner context of the continued development of Chinese civilization to this day? How was the strong resilience and vitality of Chinese civilization created? This documentary attempts to answer. Jin Ruiguo, director of "Why China" and director of the Policy and Regulations Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said, "What we want to explore is the characteristics of Chinese civilization and the spirit of the Chinese nation that are immersed in the blood, and find the cultural genes that make us 'Chinese'. This is the origin of Chinese civilization and the source of cultural confidence."
What made the film crew unforgettable was that when "Why China" entered Shanghai's primary and secondary schools for trial broadcast, pairs of curious eyes stared at the cultural relics and sites presented in ultra-high definition. As the narrative in the film unfolds, you can feel the "seeds" sprouting and sprouting in the children's hearts.
Just as the commentary of "Why China" says - in any case, the appliance itself is only a carrier in physical form, and what it really wants to express is the spiritual belief that people place on this carrier.
Zhao Hui, chief expert of the first to fourth phases of the Chinese Civilization Discovery Project and professor at the School of Archeology and Museology of Peking University, said of "Why China" that it is not only a historical epitome of Chinese civilization, but also a sincere commemoration of the century-old history of Chinese archaeology.
