UK screening highlights China's conservation efforts

China's recent efforts in ecological conservation, embodied by its ambitious plan to create the world's largest national park system, were in the spotlight in a film screening event in London held by Engage with China, a British education charity, last week.

The event was organized on Tuesday, ahead of the 2023 global climate summit, commonly known as COP 28, which will open on Thursday, to help people in Britain better understand China's endeavors in protecting its rarest species.

Wang Qi, minister of China's Embassy in the United Kingdom, attended the event and gave a speech on the country's "ecological civilization" and new development paradigm.

"The idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets has been widely embraced in China society," said Wang. "China is advancing the Chinese path to modernization through high-quality development, making our world clean and beautiful through green and low-carbon development."

"There's great potential for cooperation in China and the UK in environment protection and biodiversity conservation," he said.

A snippet of China: Nature's Ancient Kingdom, a documentary exploring the 10 pilot projects of the country's national park system, was shown at the event to around 70 guests from different sectors, including members of British Parliament, lawyers, businesspeople and young China watchers.

The screening was followed by a Q&A session with the film's executive producers.

Sun Shuyun, producer of the documentary, said she was intrigued to make this film when she learned in 2017 that China planned to build national parks that will occupy more than 10 percent of the country's land territory by 2035.

"The extraordinary social progress and economic miracle China has experienced in the past decades has come at a huge cost to nature," said Sun. "So it is very important with the launch of the country's national park system… The future growth in China will have to be a high-quality one."

The 3-part documentary, with each episode lasting about 50 minutes, was first released in 2021. Through the collaboration of China Central Television and the BBC, the film was broadcast in more than 100 countries.

Lucinda Axelsson, co-producer of the documentary, said it was a true and creative collaboration between China and the UK with mutual learning on both sides.

"It was really positive to see what we can learn about the Chinese, their perspective, their way of telling stories and we have created something really special together," said Axelsson.

H-J Colston-Inge, director of Engage with China, said: "We see our role as building global awareness through a specific China lens so that young people in China and the UK can understand, empathize, and work together in the future.

"Confucius said, 'If you plan for a year, sow rice. If you plan for a decade, plant a tree. If you plan for a lifetime, educate people.' This is what we do."