China through a lens
- Source: Global Times
- [23:24 February 21 2011]
- Comments
Still from Wild China
By Jiang Wanjuan
China Central Television's (CCTV) new documentary channel, launched at the beginning of this year, has received positive feedback on local microblogs and forums with audience figures in the hundreds of millions.
The documentary channel, CCTV-9, previously known as an English-language news channel, broadcasts 24 hours daily and is China's first documentary channel with worldwide coverage.
The original CCTV-9 has been replaced with the English-language CCTV News.
With only three months' preparation and a team of less than 50 people, veteran documentary director Liu Wen, head of the new channel, had to work around the clock with colleagues to make sure they do not disappoint the growing enthusiasm of audiences.
Recently Liu found time to sit down with the Global Times to share his views on the channel's future. His face may have looked tired, but his mind seemed to know exactly what the opportunities and challenges were ahead of them.
Global appeal
"[It] was launched to create a vivid, real and multidimensional image of Chinese society and express it in a way that can be understood and accepted by a global audience," Liu said to the Global Times during the interview. "Compared with TV series and variety shows, non-fiction is more readily accepted in foreign markets."
The documentary channel, which mainly covers four categories nature, humanities, society, and history has two editions, broadcasting separately in China and abroad.
