Documentary offers window into rural China

"For me, 2022 was a year of deep immersion into village life," said Yang Yipin, one of the directors of the documentary. "I felt a strong pull toward the rural roots, which perhaps stems from my happy childhood experiences in villages, the influence of rural literature, my love of nature, or China's millennia-old agrarian civilization".

Yang cited fruit farmer Peng Hong from Panzhihua in Sichuan province as an example of the film's ethos to highlight ordinary people. Peng has been recognized for successfully growing high-quality mangoes that have appeared at various agriculture expos and graced shelves across the country.

"This question of why mainstream an ordinary person's story guided my filming," said Yang. "However, the fruits created by the people will ultimately benefit the people — is this not the core philosophy of common prosperity?"

An international edition aired last December across Asia, the Middle East and Africa on National Geographic channels, enabling a global audience to transcend borders and gain insight into China's rural vitalization progress.

The series premiered domestically on Jan 7, airing every Tuesday night across major broadcast and online platforms, including Dragon TV, Southeast TV and Tencent Video.