Peerless beauty

John Smith has been in China three times since taking over as chief executive of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2005. Like many other foreign visitors to this economic powerhouse, his destinations have always been Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

But he is now considering new destinations on his next trip after watching Beautiful China, a documentary series co-produced by his company and China Television Media Ltd, a subsidiary of China Central Television Station (CCTV).

On top of his list are Yunnan and other provinces known for their scenic splendor. "Like many other people in the West I understand that China is an ancient nation with many cultural attractions, but little did I know that it has so many natural wonders," he says.

Beautiful China, with its six episodes, is to be shown on BBC2 in May and later on CCTV. "At a time when the world's gaze is on this amazing country that is to host the Olympics, I am confident that the documentary will be widely viewed," he says in an interview with China Daily.

Twenty-five television stations have reached agreements with the BBC Worldwide to broadcast the Beautiful China series in their countries and regions, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Poland, Russia, Spain and Thailand, and the number continues to rise, he says.

"Beautiful China was the most popular factual program at the BBC's annual fair of television programs in February," says Smith.

Representatives of 560 television broadcasters from more than 100 countries and regions were invited to watch the documentary, and they gave it the highest rating for both quality and market prospects, he adds.

Gao Xiaoping, general manager of China Television Media Ltd, told China Daily that he was convinced of the success of the documentary even when it was still in production.

"I am really impressed by the professionalism and dedication of my British colleagues," he says. "Beautiful China is the best documentary about the nation that I have ever seen, and this does not surprise me."

The filming of the documentary began in 2004, and over the past three years the production team, with about 30 Chinese and British core members and hundreds of hired cameramen, traveled to 51 natural reserves in 26 Chinese provinces, according to Brian Leith, executive producer of Beautiful China.

Leith is the producer of many award-winning documentaries, such as Congo of 2001, the Deep Jungle of 2004 and Ganges of 2006. Leith says he is amazed at the nation's great size and cultural diversity.

"After three years of traveling, my strongest feeling is that the country is so big and there are so many different cultures living together. In fact, we had to spend one third of our precious time on the road," he says.

The documentary could be completed in three years only because six filming teams were working at the same time in six geographical areas, he adds. Each team was responsible for one episode.

The southern part of the country, with its long tradition in farming, is where the Beautiful China journey begins. The first episode, titled The Great Rice Bowl, shows how "in China, every aspect of rural life is closely bound up with nature," says Leith.

It highlights the colorful Miao ethnic communities in the mountains of Southwest China's Guizhou province. There, "the arrival of swallows in the spring is used to determine the start of the rice-planting season," says the soundtrack.

Yunnan and the Hengduan Mountains are featured in the episode Forests of Shangri-la, the northern end of China, in the episode Beyond the Great Wall, and the central part of the country in the Land of the Dragon. There is also one episode devoted to Tibet, and another to the vibrant coastal areas.

The episode Tibet opens with scenes of the glaciers on the Himalayas. "Nine kilometers high and 2,900km long, the Himalayas are the real Great Wall of China. Up on the Tibetan plateau, the Himalayas dictate the nature and rhythms of life, creating a world where the air is thin, snow falls in summer, and persistent winds and storms rip across the hauntingly beautiful landscape," says the soundtrack.

The camera feasts on the Chang Tang natural reserve in the heartland of Tibet and the chiru, or Tibetan antelope, the males of which "just like fencers in temperatures that plummet to minus 40 degrees Celsius".

In the depth of the plateau where breathing is a challenge, the documentary crew filmed the argali sheep - the world's largest with its dramatic spiraling horns - gathering together in winter, and the jumping spiders - the highest predators on earth - hunting for springtails.

The crew even went into the plateau's hot springs and showed how the cold-blooded snakes wait patiently in the water for an unsuspecting fish. Their heads "bob like fish floats," says the soundtrack.

The crew were also able to spend weeks along the Yarlung Gorge in southern Tibet, also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon, which is three times as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States and is rarely seen by outsiders.

There is plenty of such rare footage in Beautiful China such as the courtship and mating of pandas in Kunlun Mountains, the behavior of Tibetan antelopes and the feeding period of the Yangtze Crocodiles, says Neil Nightingale, head of the BBC Natural History Unit.

Nightingale became interested in monkeys while a student of zoology at Oxford University more than two decades ago, and what he loves most about the documentary are the snub-nosed monkeys.

"Those golden monkeys are the most beautiful monkeys in the whole world, and it is such a touching scene to see them huddled together in the white snow," he says.

Smith says he was surprised to learn from the documentary that the Shaolin kungfu originated from studying animal behavior.

"I have known about the Shaolin monks for a long time, but never had a chance to learn about the history of kungfu. It is so cool that the monks studied individual animal behaviors. That story can be something of global interest," he says.

(China Daily 04/16/2008 page18)