Thousand-year echoes of a land and water: the spiritual context of Chinese natural and humanistic documentaries
As the camera panned over the primeval forest of Baima Snow Mountain in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, a mother, a Yunnan golden monkey, was holding her cub tightly in her arms and teaching it how to jump between the tree canopies.
This scene was immortalized in "Beautiful China".
In recent years, there has been an explosion of documentaries showing China's natural scenery and human geography. This is not only a technical victory, but also an affectionate review of national memory and ecological wisdom.
The snow leopards and Chinese white dolphins in "Land of the Gods", the rice, tea trees, and mulberry in "Chinese Plants That Influence the World", everywhere the camera goes, are witnesses of the intertwining of this ancient land and human civilization.
This kind of expression has gone beyond the scope of simple science popularization and evolved into a poetic narrative with strong Chinese value heritage.
Mountains and rivers are the classics: the code of civilization in geographical coordinates
Looking at the territory of China, every geographical wonder is engraved with the footprints of our ancestors.
"North of the River" talks about the exciting and tragic land of Yanzhao. Where the Taihang Mountains and the North China Plain intersect, the continuous pull of farming and nomadism for thousands of years is hidden; the green water waves of "Tarimu River" reflect the figures of camels on the Silk Road, and the Populus euphratica forest witnessed the rise and decline of Loulan and Qiuci; in the secret of the snowy mountains of "Depths of Shambhala", the sound of the bells of the Ancient Tea Horse Road is still echoing.
These documentaries are no longer just content to show the magnificent smoke in the desert and the sunset over the long river, but go deep into the texture, including those who control the sand in the Kubuqi Desert, the old shepherds in the Albas Mountains, and the herb collectors on the banks of the Lancang River. Their lives resonate with this land.
As shown in "The Yellow River Turns Here", every grain of sand and every abandoned city on the Ordos Plateau tells the story of the dialogue between nomadic civilization and the mother of the Yellow River.
Plants and trees have spirit: Ecological philosophy in folk memory
In traditional Chinese culture, "harmony between man and nature" has never been an abstract concept.
"Secret Herbs" uses the lens to tell the stories of more than 30 kinds of wild herbs. Herb collectors climb cliffs to pick dendrobium, and She ethnic herbal farmers prepare Polygonatum sibiricum according to ancient methods. In the process, what we see is the continuation of Shennong's spirit of tasting hundreds of herbs in the contemporary era.
In "The Blue Land", the fishermen in the Beibu Gulf have guarded the migration channel of the Chinese white dolphin for generations. They regard these pink-looking elves as the manifestation of the sea god.
This kind of awe is exactly the same as the Yunnan villagers giving up their homes to Asian elephants migrating north in "The Journey of Elephants" - when a lame red-crowned crane couple builds a nest in the wetland, the crane protector will quietly back away; when a snow leopard hunts, herders use yak carcasses to guide it away from livestock.
The simple ecological outlook behind these folk customs is more shocking than any preaching.
Light and shadow innovation: from technological catch-up to cultural confidence
There was a time when we looked up at a work produced by the BBC called "Pulse of the Earth" and were amazed by its lens-based expression and visual and auditory presentation.
At this time, the director of "Land of the Gods" said that when the audience asked for a domestic documentary based on BBC standards, although he had fluctuations in his heart, what was more prominent was his confidence. The 4K infrared sensor camera captured the eyes of the Siberian tiger on the snowy night. The fight between the cobras under the macro lens was thrilling. The underwater camera captured the memory of the Lion City at the bottom of Qiandao Lake.
The leap in technology is only superficial. The real breakthrough lies in the change of narrative perspective.
In "National Parks: Wildlife Kingdom", the naivety of the giant panda when chewing bamboo, the tenacity of the Tibetan antelope when giving birth, and the cunningness of the rabbit in the crevices of the rocks are all endowed with an anthropomorphic temperature.
Such expressions allow the mythical beasts in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" to be resurrected under the modern lens, and the artistic conception contained in the "Guan Guan Jiu Jiu" in the "Book of Songs" has a concrete presentation.
Inheriting the city: ancient nostalgia in modern cities
"Underwater China" dives into dark caves to visit the submerged ancient city, and "Song of the Yangtze River" passes through the towpath on both sides of the Three Gorges. At this moment, we suddenly realize that the process of urbanization has not cut off the umbilical cord of history.
Think of "The Most Beautiful China: Cantabile in Four Seasons" as using the twenty-four solar terms as the longitude and the customs and customs of various parts of China as the latitude. The sea of rapeseed flowers in Wuyuan during the Qingming Festival, the polar night phenomenon in Mohe during the winter solstice, and the ancient villages and old craftsmanship that are about to disappear have gained eternity in the constant circulation of solar terms.
The morning bells and evening drums stand on the central axis of Beijing, the scenery changes with each step in Suzhou gardens, and the brick carvings and wood carvings are stored in Huizhou folk houses. These cultural landmarks are not cold buildings, but living memories.
Just like in "Songhua River", the Hezhe people, who inherit the fishing and hunting culture, use fish skin to make shaman costumes, and the ancient skills show new vitality in front of the camera.
The documentary creators used the lens to complete a cultural root search.
From the origins of "The Creation of All Things" which focuses on the microscopic world, to "The Supreme Wilderness" which shows the original secret realm, from "Depths of Shambhala" which presents the scene of a Tibetan Buddhist temple, to "Tarim River" which depicts the scene of the Uyghur oasis, what these images record is not just as simple as the geographical landscape, but also the spiritual map of the diversity and unity of the Chinese nation.
When the elephant herds migrated towards the north, it became a news event that attracted global attention, and when the snow leopard appeared in the surveillance footage in the Sanjiangyuan area, what we witnessed was not only an improvement in the ecological environment, but also a reflection of the continued inheritance of ancient civilization in the current era.
Such a continuation has allowed the spirits in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" and the legends in "Sou Shen Ji" to find their home in modern documentary images.
Perhaps this is the value foundation of Chinese-style documentaries. It is not only an echo of past history, but also a prediction of future development trends.
Comments NOTHING