中国的纪录片步入新时代

 　　Reporter: It is perhaps inevitable¹ that someone would mention A Bite of China, or She Jian Shang De Zhong Guo (舌尖上的中国) in Chinese, when talking about the new trends in Chinese documentary development.

　　The culinary documentary A Bite of China, produced by China Central Television, first aired in 2012. Du Haibin, a veteran documentary director who rose to fame immediately on graduation from the Beijing Film Academy for his first award-winning piece Along the Railway, thinks highly of the role played by A Bite of China.

　　中国的纪录片步入新时代

　　"A Bite of China, which borrowed a lot from the west's advanced production practices, has become a phenomenon. All in all, A Bite of China induces the documentary format² to step into the Public Era in Chinese society".

　　In April last year, a second season of A Bite of China, also consisting of seven episodes, was aired. It surpassed both TV variety shows and TV dramas in terms of influence and audience ratings.

　　According to "cntv.cn", a video website run by CCTV, both the first and second seasons of A Bite of China are estimated to have earned revenue exceeding 500 million yuan.

　　Cao Zheng is the general manager of a Beijing-based company that provides co-production investment in documentary programs. And the huge success in A Bite of China has led Cao Zheng to conclude that Chinese documentary is undergoing a transformation³ from a cultural product into an industry that is gradually taking shape.

　　"Documentary used to be a cultural product and was not made for the market. Today, the development of documentary must be closely associated with market opportunities and only at this point, the importance for a documentary to possess a certain level of brand value will arise."

　　According to the China Documentary Development Report 2015, which was released at this year's Beijing International Film Festival, newly launched satellite broadcasters such as the Beijing and Shanghai documentary channels, along with CCTV 9, will primarily stimulate⁴ the growth of local productions that have been looking for broadcast platforms.

　　Statistics from this report show that a total of 75,800 hours of documentaries were broadcast in 2014, 5,800 hours more than the total broadcast amount in 2013.

　　But few of these documentaries have the chance to be shown in Chinese cinemas. And No Zuo No Die, or Wo-Jiu-Shi-Wo in Chinese, (我就是我), directed by Last Train Home director Fan Lixin and made from recordings⁵ of backstage scenes of a popular reality TV show, grossed only 6.7 million yuan at the box office.

　　Zhang Tongdao is the director of Beijing Normal University's documentary center, and head of the team which produced the report.

　　"We haven't produced a documentary to suit the market. The approaches in documentary production and methods of promotion⁶ are not market-based at all. Certainly, Chinese audiences are not mentally ready to go to cinemas to watch a documentary film."

　　The report also says that a total of 1.9 billion yuan was invested in making Chinese documentaries in 2014, and over one-fifth of the investment came from private companies.

　　With the involvement of private investment funds in documentary film-making, veteran-director Du Haibin thinks the Chinese documentary industry will embrace new opportunities.

　　"The documentary has become more widely known in Chinese society thanks to both A Bite of China and other interesting documentaries made by independent filmmakers. Also, with the involvement of private cultural companies, the domestic documentary is embracing a new round of development. I believe that Chinese audiences will not curtail⁷ their desire for knowledge having only seen A Bite of China. They may aspire⁸ to see more top-quality documentary films."

　　Chinese documentaries grossed a total of three billion yuan, around 483 million US dollars in 2014. And two public-private investment funds - each worth 100 million yuan - were created.

　　All these figures are provided in the report and reflect the market's growing confidence in the future of documentary film-making in China.

　　For Studio Plus, I'm Xu Fei

1 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

2 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

3 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

4 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

5 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

8 aspire   

vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

参考例句：

• Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。
• I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。