At the 5th Chinese Documentary Film Festival in Guangzhou, I decided to ask international documentary professionals a simple question: Why does the world need China stories?
For Paul Lewis, Special Advisor of the World Congress of Science & Factual Producers, part of the answer lies in China's long history and the experiences that have come with it.
"There's a lot of wisdom that comes with that kind of age," Lewis said, adding that China has developed unique solutions to challenges that may also offer lessons for other countries.
But he also pointed to something more basic: there are simply many China stories that international audiences have yet to hear.
"We know a lot about China's pandas, and we know a lot about the Great Wall and the Forbidden City," Lewis said. "There's so much more to China than that."
He believes China's growing openness and the rise of social media are giving people more opportunities to see the country directly, without relying entirely on traditional media organizations as intermediaries.
For Japanese documentary director Ryo Takeuchi, however, the most powerful China stories may not be about spectacular landmarks or cutting-edge technology. They can be about everyday life.
With nearly one million Chinese people living in Japan, Takeuchi said Japanese audiences are increasingly curious about who they are and what life in China is really like.
His documentaries have shown ordinary Chinese families, workers and young people, and he has found that these stories often resonate because viewers recognize something familiar in them.
Taking care of children is exhausting. Helping with homework is exhausting. Finding a job can be difficult. Working long hours can be tough. "Chinese people are just like us," Takeuchi said.
For him, this is one of the strengths of documentaries: they can reveal the everyday experiences and emotions that people in different societies share.
But Takeuchi also sees growing curiosity about another side of China — its rapid development in robotics and artificial intelligence. He hopes to see more documentaries exploring these technologies, particularly for Japanese audiences who are increasingly interested in China's progress in the field.
Lewis has another question in mind: how does China solve big problems? Given the country's enormous population and geographical scale, he believes the ways China addresses major challenges could be relevant far beyond its borders. "I want to see how China solves big problems," he said. "Whatever is done to solve problems here is gonna be really relevant to us."
From ancient civilization to ordinary family life, from AI and robotics to solutions for challenges on a massive scale, the China story is clearly not a single story. And perhaps that is exactly why more stories need to be told.
Reporter | Li Fangwang
Photo | Li Fangwang
Video & Poster | Li Fangwang
