Performers in the spotlight

"The artists featured in the documentary represent China's current performing arts scene. For audiences in China and abroad, the documentary offers them a glimpse of Chinese music, dance and theater, which they may have not had the chance to explore before," Gu adds.

The documentary premiered on the BBC's World News channel in February, around the time of China's Spring Festival, the biggest traditional celebration of the year.

Since members of the UK documentary team couldn't travel to China due to the coronavirus pandemic, the preparation and shooting process involved lots of online discussions.

"We had a great team in China who were able to research, obtain information and film everything. We worked together on who we included, subject to people's availability, so each program has a nice variety of contributors," says London-based director Matthew Tucker. "I felt it was important to find artists who had something to say, were passionate about what they do and willing to let us get up close and personal so we really understood where they were coming from as performers."

Tucker has enjoyed a long career making arts documentaries in the UK. He made a documentary about Chinese pianist Lang Lang back in 2007, during which he took his first trip to China.

"I could sense then the enormous excitement growing around China's performing arts scene. I am delighted to actually make series about it a decade later," he adds.

He mentions that he was moved by lots of the stories the artists told in the documentary, particularly those of the father and daughter who produce a dynamic puppet theater story in Shaanxi province and the immersive theater performance Six Records of a Floating Life in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

Back in 2015, the CICC and the BBC made and released an earlier documentary titled Chinese New Year: The Biggest Celebration on Earth, which has gone viral in China.