Frontline heroes fight poverty

Youth on Record pays tribute to the young people who contributed to poverty alleviation by telling their stories. Following an unconventional structure, the central characters do not make an appearance for the vast majority of the program. Rather, their stories are gradually unraveled by celebrities who explore and uncover them during field trips to the villages.

In each episode, two actors go on a field trip to a remote village, learn about the history and culture of the area and discover the heroes' stories.

They then come back to the studio, and along with a group of other actors, stage the story as a short play in front of an audience. Only after the performance will the real-life protagonists be invited to make an appearance onstage.

According to co-producer of the show Yang Ziyang, the program does not introduce the main characters at the beginning in order to maintain a sense of curiosity.

"The journeys are not only for the actors to get to know the characters and construct images of the characters layer by layer, but also to show the dramatic changes of the countryside and the fruits of poverty alleviation," Yang says.

In the journey to Goulanyao village presented in the first episode, the villagers expressed their contentment with the changes in the village and their everyday life. The muddy trails are now transformed into concrete roads, allowing the villagers to transport farm produce with cars instead of backbreaking and laborious means.

The villagers are also shown sampling life away from work. A folklore troupe was established to perform in a renovated ancient temple. And then there is the fish-catching competition. It takes a hardy soul, with excellent coordination, to plunge into the lake and catch fish with their bare hands.

In previous years this used to be a common scene at a regional farming festival. After Jiang came to the village, he discovered its potential to attract tourists and organized it into an event that takes place regularly.