If you're unable to plan a trip to Asia in the very near future, Wild China is the next best thing.
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See the image to the left? I used to have a hat like that--no joke. In one of my albums there's this picture of me when I was six or seven years old during a trip to Disney World where I'm wearing similar wok-shaped headgear. Now this was twenty-five years ago so don't ask me why I wanted it... all I remember is that it provided decent shade under the hot Florida sun. Come to think of it, I'm also feeding ducks in the photo, too--which is kind of eerie. I guess the relevance of my story to this review is one example of the concept yin and yang.
Anyway, for quite some time the folks at the BBC Natural History Unit (NHU) had been hoping to add a documentary covering the natural history of China to their "Continents" series--joining the ranks of "Wild Africa" (2001), "Wild Down Under" (2003), "Europe: A Natural History" (2005) and "Wild Caribbean" (2007). However, the project was put on the back burner since there was just too much red tape to cut through due to strict guidelines set in place by the Chinese government towards foreign filmmakers.
All of this changed, though, once it was announced that Beijing would be hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics. China eagerly put out their welcome mat--not just for all of the incoming Olympians from around the world, but also for the BBC in an effort to help promote the country. For the first time ever in 2005, China Central Television (CCTV) partnered with an outsider—the NHU--to produce "Wild China."
Filmed over the course of sixteen months, "Wild China is another testament of the quality and dedication we've come to expect from the BBC's nature programs. The filmmakers embarked on fifty-seven trips to some of the most remote locations in China--recording over five hundred hours of high-definition footage in twenty-six of the country's thirty provinces. Much like "Planet Earth," "Wild China" is packed with amazing photography of scenery and wildlife that you will never see anywhere else.
The first episode of the series, "Heart of the Dragon," focuses on South China--beginning with an agricultural tour of the massive rice paddies in the Red River Valley. In the Karst region of Zhongdong, many of the locals living in the limestone hills attend school completely housed within the shelter of a cave. Here we also get to witness spectacular cinematography capturing the very first images of Rickett's mouse-eared bats catching fish from a cavern stream. Also at the Li River, fishermen demonstrate their art of using their trained cormorants to catch fish for tourists. The episode also takes a look at endangered species such as freshwater turtles of Caohai Lake and Chinese alligators from Anhui province.
"Shangri-La" heads to the south west of Yunnan province where the Hengduan Mountains form the eastern boundary of the Himalayas. This stunning Garden of Eden contains about 18,000 different plant species with 3000 of them found nowhere else in the world. The area is also home to bizarre looking creatures like Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys and is the only place on earth where entire families of bumblebee-sized Lesser Bamboo Bats colonize in a single section of bamboo. This particular program also touches on the Dai, Hai, and Jino tribes who compete with rubber tree plantations and tourism in order to survive.
Trivia: Did you know that stalks of bamboo grow up to 1m a day under the right conditions?
The third installment enlightens viewers with a magnificent journey to "Tibet." The Tibetan Plateau is home to 2.5 million people--most of whom are Buddhists. Bird lovers will be drawn to extensive footage of black-necked cranes, Tibetan-eared pheasants, great crested grebes and bar-headed geese. I was also amazed to see how certain species of jumping spiders and hot springs snakes are able to thrive in the frigid high altitudes of Everest. The episode concludes at the sacred Mount Kailash, where an annual magical ceremony known as the Saga Dawa Festival colorfully celebrates the birth of Buddha uniting people of many faiths.
"Beyond the Great Wall" follows the boundaries of one of the world's greatest man-made wonders. In the areas north of the Great Wall, it's rare to find nomadic tribes that haven't abandoned their traditional ways in favor of modern civilization. At the Black Dragon River, Hezhe fishermen continue to reel in their nets from beneath the thick ice. Further west, we come across the Taklamakan Desert--the largest area of shifting sands in existence. Underground irrigation canals deliver water through the dry heat to hidden grape vineyards in the Turfan Oasis. The episode closes at the Harbin Ice Festival, where practically an entire town is chiseled from ice. It was a breathtaking spectacle unlike anything I've ever seen.
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