Passage to China to air during the Spring Festival

TV host Denise Keller with a villager of the Hani ethnic group in Yunnan province.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The first episode of "Passage to China", a three-part documentary co-produced by China's Ministry of Culture and Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, is set to be aired on Feb 21 on the network's Travel & Living channel across 37 countries in 15 languages. The show will have three 45-minute episodes that will seek to look at Chinese culture through a wide range of topics from the fine arts to food.

Following a five-minute media preview of the documentary on Monday in Beijing, Zhang Fang, senior vice-president and general manager for Discovery in China, called it his channel's first production focused on Chinese culture.

"We've produced many films on China's landscape, science, environment and nature, but we want something different this time," Zhang says. "China's diverse culture is a perfect topic for us to make such a change, but it will be more demanding for storytelling techniques."

With Discovery's international revenues surpassing its domestic United States market, the network is turning its gaze at increasing global audiences, he adds.

"More seasons for this show will possibly follow if the results go well. When more and more elements are involved in the project, Passage to China can become an encyclopedia of Chinese culture in 10 years."

The show will be presented by Denise Keller, a Singaporean TV host of Chinese and German ancestry, who describes the show as her "very personal journey". Keller spent months on shooting for the documentary in 10 Chinese provinces, and says it will be presented through her first-person account of exploring her roots.

"Before I came here, everybody told me that Chinese people don't have smiling faces, but it's so untrue. People here are very hospitable and people always smile at me. That's a good way for communication beyond language," she says of her recent experience while working in China for the channel. Keller also hosts the Passage to Malaysia documentary on Discovery.

Passage to China will not just spotlight traditional Chinese art, which is often showcased on Chinese TV for foreign viewers, but will also have space for modern artists such as composer Tan Dun, whose work Water Heavens will be shown as part of a Shanghai section. Keller's visit to a Beijing dancing troupe for the hearing impaired will be a human interest feature.

"It's a creative trial to meet overseas audiences' need to know Chinese culture better," says Li Liyan, assistant secretary of the External Relations Bureau under the Ministry of Culture. He adds that cooperating with leading media groups such as Discovery will help take Chinese culture abroad.

"The show tells Chinese stories more vividly, and focuses on the inheritance of traditions as well as its modern development and communication with world's civilizations. It will also promote a cross-border dialogue of culture in the future."

For more information on the documentary, go to www.discovery.com and www.chinaculture.org.