Thursday , December 6, 2018 | 19 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION

A film about the lives of expressway workers also reflects the sacrifices and struggles that Road to progress accompanied China’s reform and opening­up over the past 40 years, Xu Fan reports.

very time director Miao Yue drove on the Yaxi Expressway, a 240 kilome­ ter road snaking through Emountains in Southwest China’s Sichuan province, she marveled at the spectacular views, which gave her the feeling of riding into the clouds. But she never thought she would be able to stop and photograph the scene, which, according to traffic regulations, would earn her 12 demerit points leading to her driver’s license being suspended. So it was a big surprise for the filmmaker known for the award­ winning film Hold Your Hands — a poverty alleviation­themed movie — when she got a chance to shoot her new film The Connection on a simi­ ducts and tunnels. the best actress award at the 34th lar expressway which is still under The expressway, which is estimat­ Hundred Flowers Awards in Foshan, construction. ed to cost 23 billion yuan, is expected Guangdong province, for Hold Your Recently, the China Film Adminis­ to shorten the drive from Chengdu to Hands. tration, the top regulator of the sec­ Kangding from seven hours to four. Discussing the filming, Miao says: tor, selected nine films — including In late autumn of 2017, Miao and “The filming on the construction site The Connection — to mark the 40th some of her colleagues took a ride to of Xingkang Bridge lasted more than anniversary of the launch of reform the incomplete Xingkang suspen­ 40 days, from June to mid­July this and opening­up in China. sion bridge over the Luding River, year. And ultimately, we all got used The Connection focuses on the which will be 280 meters long when to wearing the hats, even subcon­ lives of two generations of express­ completed. sciously putting them on after we way workers, who struggled in haz­ Speaking about that experience, had moved to a safer filming site,” ardous weather conditions to boost Miao, a graduate of Chinese lan­ says Miao. China’s road infrastructure. guage and literature from Guizhou Recounting her experience of Among the other films chosen are Normal University, says: “I was making the film, Miao says that it is Running to the Spring; Hope of shocked to see this magnificent the spirit and sacrifice of construc­ Road; Dr. Huang Danian; Fighting project being built beyond the tion workers, who are mostly Men of China and The Photographer. clouds. All the engineers wore red migrant laborers from rural China Speaking after a promotional Top: A scene from The Connection, a film to mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of hard hats, quite matching the color and have endured the separation event for the nine movies in Beijing reform and opening­up in China. Above left: Veteran actor Li Baotian stars in the film. of autumn.” from family for years, that touched recently, Miao says she took up work Above right: A poster of the film. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY The bridge, which is expected to her the most. on The Connection, from the Cheng­ need four years to complete, has “Their annual leave is only 12 days. du­based Emei Film Group, the larg­ nearly 1,000 construction workers And back in the early years they est studio in Sichuan, in 2017. To build the expressway which has based on the true stories of local vil­ and around 100 engineers working probably spent half of the vacation Roads have always been an issue 270 viaducts and 25 tunnels, engi­ lagers’ efforts to reduce poverty in on it. traveling to get home. They are the in Sichuan as the region features neers and workers had to overcome Central China’s Hunan province. To ensure safety, engineers are unknown heroes of our era,” she says. complex landscapes, including pla­ many geological hazards such as gas So, she trekked hundreds of kilo­ They (construction required to wear red hard hats, The Connection has yet to get a teaus, basins and mountains. And eruptions, water spouts and rock meters to interview those who were workers) probably workers yellow ones and visitors general release date. But for those while these geographical features falls. part of the project. white. who may be interested in seeing give the region an edge in the pro­ All this inspired Miao, who “Work on the Yaxi Expressway was spent half of the So, for the first time in her film­ films reflecting China’s transforma­ duction of tea, silk, besides making it believes the road represents one of wrapped up six years ago. But I dis­ vacation traveling to making career spanning three dec­ tion over the past 40 years, Hope of a haven for wild pandas, its lack of Sichuan’s biggest achievements covered that a majority of the engi­ ades, Miao wore a white hard hat to Road — depicting poverty allevia­ connectivity has often hampered its brought about by the reform policy. neers and workers who built the get home. They are sit behind the rolling cameras, and tion efforts in the Ningxia Hui economic development. Besides, the huge project spawned road are now working on the Yakang the her cast and crew of more than 100 autonomous region — is set to open The Yaxi Expressway, a section of a number of human interest stories. Expressway,” she says. members — including lead actor Li on Thursday; and Fighting Men of the Beijing­Kunming highway that For Miao, a scriptwriter­turned­ Yakang Expressway, one of the unknown Baotian and actress Chen Jin — all China — about the unprecedented cost 20.6 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) director, a good storyteller must be a most difficult road­construction heroes of wore similar hats. expansion of the internet industry and took five years to build, has now diligent journalist first. projects taken up in China, will Li is famous for Zhang Yimou’s — will be released on Dec 18. linked the province to the country’s And she did just that, repeating improve Sichuan’s access to the our era. Oscar­nominated Ju Dou and north and south since it opened to what she had done with Hold Your country’s east and west, with 82 per­ Miao Yue, director French director Philippe Muyl’s The Contact the writer at motorists in April. Hands ­­ a heartwarming story cent of the project comprising via­ Nightingale; and Chen recently won [email protected]

instead of taking their last chance to mount an attempt on the world’s Sky’s the limit for popular landscape documentary highest peak, choose to remain at the northern base camp of Qomo­ langma, or Mount Everest, along By XU FAN China from the sky first came about major combined bridge and tunnel old woman leads a team in a swim­ with some 150 yaks, to clean up and [email protected] in 2012. sea­crossing project. The crew inter­ ming competition to cross the collect rubbish and equipment left “Back then, drones were not as viewed a surveyor, who left home Yangtze River in Wuhan, and we see on the route. Apart from the occasional trip by widely available as they are today — shortly after getting married and an archery challenge that dates back “Every time we produce a film an airplane, few people get the so this was a very ambitious under­ could only see his wife once or twice more than 80 years take place in a about China, we learn something chance to admire China’s magnifi­ taking as we’d need to shoot mostly a year over the course of the seven­ Tibetan valley. new. There is so much to discover, cent landscapes with a bird’s­eye from helicopters,” he recalls. year construction. In the second episode, for uncover and share about this view. “It’s unique because while many In some other stories, a 61­year­ instance, a group of climbers, incredible country,” says Murdoch. Other than attempting to obtain a people could record from the air in pilot’s license, or spending a fortune many other countries around the on plane tickets, perhaps a more The second season of the world, the regulations permitting economical alternative would be to documentary series China From this in China make it very difficult just watch China From Above, a doc­ Above features a group of for just anyone to do,” adds Mur­ umentary series that mainly uses climbers collecting rubbish at doch. aerial shots to capture the country’s the northern base camp of The first season achieved huge mountains, rivers, cities and its peo­ Qomolangma. popularity. It became the most­ ple. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY watched online documentary in Chi­ For domestic audiences, the two­ na in 2015, winning more than 10 episode second season of the show awards and being broadcast to more has been available on the streaming teau, taking in multiple cities, than 170 countries and regions. site, Bilibili, since Nov 10, and accu­ including Chongqing and Wuhan, Now, with more advanced tech­ mulated nearly 1.3 million “clicks” along the way, before finally reach­ nology, the second season uses video as of Wednesday. ing the bustling metropolis of camera drones with 4k ultra high As a joint production by compa­ Shanghai. definition resolution, allowing much nies from China, the United States, “China is a country of immense clearer and sharper images as they New Zealand and Singapore, season contrasts. While most Westerners follow moving objects from above. two also premiered on the National have a very set idea of China, we However, it’s not just a collection Geographic Channel on Nov 10, wanted to surprise and intrigue of picturesque scenes. The camera with the second episode airing the them by showcasing the diversity of lens also comes down to earth to tell following day. Chinese people and landscapes the emotional and interesting sto­ The first episode travels along beyond the Great Wall,” says Kyle ries of the people below, says Wang China’s 18,000­kilometer­long Murdoch, managing director of Yuanyuan, director of the film and coastline, the fourth longest in the NHNZ Ltd. television production center with world, exploring its diverse environ­ Based in Dunedin in New Zea­ CICC. ments, from the frigid Bohai Bay in land, NHNZ is one of the show’s pro­ “China’s documentary­making the north to Hainan island in the far ducers, which also includes China industry has improved in recent tropical south. Intercontinental Communication years. We’ve learned a lot from our Shifting to a somewhat west­to­ Center, US­based National Geo­ foreign partners,” she adds. east route, the second episode graphic and Beach House Pictures In the first episode, the show cov­ embarks on a journey from the in Singapore. ers the story of the Hong Kong­Zhu­ Himalayas to the Qinghai­Tibet Pla­ Murdoch reveals the idea to shoot hai­Macao Bridge, China’s first