By Rui Hu, EDITOR

The documentary, The City Wall Is Falling Down, made its debut at CCTV-9 Documentary Channel on the night of September 2. The first episode, Chaotianmen, told stories about boat trackers living in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and foreigners visiting Chongqing 100 years ago.

Xu Bei filming of The City Wall Is Falling Down

Its camera crew brought Behind The Frontline and National Southwestern Associated University before, which are highly praised. The 5-episode documentary finally came out after three years of preparation.

A systematical retrospect of Chongqing’s history as a commercial port

The City Wall Is Falling Down unveiled the modern history of Chongqing. The documentary is not only focussed on people but also on buildings, economics, and literature, making an attempt to show different aspects of the city.

Chongqing opened as a commercial port 100 years ago, when Chinese people first knew photography. The production team turned to scholars from Chongqing, the United Kingdom, and the United States for academic support. Through their eyes, people can know what happened in the city back then. The documentary quoted newspapers, journals, memoirs and other historical materials, and used editing techniques to revive current scenes.

The documentary is more than a display of historical materials

Xu Bei, the director, said the key to making a historical documentary was a rich knowledge about the history involved. Xu Bei has the experience, considering her film credits include Behind The Frontline (Douban rating: 9.4) and National Southwest Associated University (Douban rating: 9.3). This kind of documentary is not a simple display of historical materials. The production team should ask experts across the world to get a whole picture of facts, no matter what themes they want to dig into. Based on that, it is possible for the team to find unique views and novel methods to show those facts to the public.

Keep the history in mind to get further. The historical documentary is a practical way to protect related resources and to enrich people’s cultural knowledge. With such efforts, brilliant history and culture can work with the opening-up to power social development in the new era.

Source: Chongqing Daily
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