Guided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, supported by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, and created by SMG, the large-scale documentary series "Why China" will be released on Dragon TV and BesTV every Friday at 20:30 starting from October 20 TV broadcast simultaneously.

"Why China" uses vertical time as a clue to trace the foundation, origin, early formation and development of China as a civilized country. The documentary is led by Yan Wenming, a leading figure in Chinese archaeology, as the academic general consultant, with Chinese archaeologists as teachers, and relying on the fruitful achievements of Chinese archeology over the past century. "Why China" traces the formation and development process of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization as a pluralistic unity, and the unity of the country and the country. .

"Why China" poster

It is reported that the documentary "Why China" is based on the major research results of the "Chinese Civilization Discovery Project" and "Archaeology of China", and has been selected as the "Recording China" communication project of the Central Propaganda Department and the key documentary focus of the National Radio and Television Administration's "14th Five-Year Plan" Select a topic.

Relying on the latest archaeological results, supported by academics, and using vivid and exquisite modern audio-visual language, the documentary "Why China" has a total of 8 episodes. With the titles of "The World" and "Qin and Han Dynasties", it starts from the turn of the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age, witnessing people on the land of China moving towards an agricultural and settled society, establishing aesthetics and beliefs, forming families and societies, beginning cultural exchanges all over the world, and forming city-states. and regional countries, gave birth to a wide-area royal state: Xia, and laid the foundation for the real dynasty: Shang and Zhou, until the entire Chinese territory was unified by the Qin and Han Empires.

Qin Ling, the academic chief producer of "Why China", said that the documentary has both rigorous and cordial aspects. It can not only clarify the circulation of the "diversity and unity" of Chinese civilization over thousands of years, but also allow the audience to step into history and understand "everyday life". Every past is related to today, and every ancient person is part of us." "'Why China' is something that all of us are practicing and even creating today."

According to the creator, the documentary "Why China" has a strong sense of responsibility and mission for the times, and explores the Chinese humanistic spirit, values, ethics, etc. contained in archaeological sites and cultural relics from the origin of Chinese civilization, and explores the formation, development, and development of Chinese civilization. Powerful objective laws and endogenous motivations are used to answer the ultimate questions of who we are, where we come from, and where we are going.

It is understood that the documentary filming team of "Why China" spent more than 700 days and nights, traveled more than 40,000 kilometers, and visited more than 230 archaeological sites, archaeological workstations, museums and other locations across the country. The main creative team sorted out more than 3 million words of text materials and wrote 400,000 words of scripts.

The documentary has brought together a strong film team in its creation to create a rich and grand audio-visual experience, integrating documentary, film, reconstruction and other means of expression into an artistic whole, and innovating the audio-visual language of documentary. "Why China" brings together powerful actors such as Hu Ge, Cao Lei, Chen Yuqi, Wu Qian, Huang Yao and He Gang to vividly interpret historical figures and truly restore historical events, allowing the audience to feel the charm of Chinese civilization in a refreshing feeling. brilliant.

It is reported that a total of nearly 400 scenes were shot in the recreation part of the film, with more than 4,000 actors participating. 2,268 sets of costumes were restored based on archaeological results, 1,500 restored accessories, and more than 3,600 restored props. The prehistoric part of the restored scenes alone is astonishing. of more than 100 places.

Gan Chao, the chief director of "Why China", elaborated on the four-level purpose of "Why China": "Writing history through archeology, guided by archaeology, spans thousands of years, and demonstrates the origin and development of China, an early civilized country; seeing things through things, seeing people through a large number of National archaeological results and cultural relics combinations, through film and television narratives, depict the social outlook of the era in which our ancestors lived in a more specific and warm manner; connect with reality, and use a rigorous and responsible academic spirit to answer the internal logic and why China is what it is today. Motivation; audiovisual creation, innovating the audiovisual language of documentaries, and giving all parts of the program long-tail archival value."