Wild China
Encyclopedia
Wild China is a six-part nature documentary
series on the natural history
of China
, co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit
and China Central Television
(CCTV) and filmed entirely in high-definition
(HD). It was screened in the UK on BBC Two
from 11 May to 5 June 2008. The English narration was provided by Bernard Hill
and the series produced by Phil Chapman for the BBC
and Gao Xiaoping for CCTV. The Chinese version was broadcast under the title Beautiful China. In Canada, it was broadcast on CBC
as part of the series The Nature Of Things
narrated by David Suzuki
. Wild China was also broadcast in Australia
on ABC1
and ABC HD each Sunday at 7:30pm from 18 May 2008.
The musical score to accompany the series was composed by Barnaby Taylor and is performed by Cheng Yu and the UK Chinese Ensemble.
Prior to broadcast, the series was billed as the culmination of the BBC Natural History Unit's "Continents" programmes, a long-running strand of blue-chip wildlife documentaries which surveyed the natural history of each of the world's major land areas. It was preceded by Wild Caribbean
in 2007, but with the broadcast of South Pacific
in 2009 the BBC signalled a continuation of the strand.
. In the run up to the Games, the Chinese government was "understandably keen to promote itself as a country worth visiting" according to BBC producer Phil Chapman. Permission for Wild China was granted in 2005, with the BBC working alongside local partners CTV, a Beijing
production company closely allied to state broadcaster CCTV. The series marks the first time that CCTV has collaborated with a foreign broadcaster.
With wildlife filmmaking in its infancy in China, and a perception in the developed world of a country plagued by environmental problems, the producers hoped that the series would change attitudes in both the East and the West:
Filming for the series took place over 16 months, and involved half a million miles of travel on 57 separate filming trips to some of China's most inaccessible and spectacular locations. The production team shot over 500 hours of HD footage in 26 of China's 30 provinces.
Despite being granted unprecedented access to many remote and protected areas, one of the main challenges faced by the filmmakers was finding wildlife. Although 15% of China's territory has some form of protection, this is not a guarantee of safety for wildlife, as reserves were often found to be under-equipped and under-staffed. In addition, they encountered a lack of local expertise and specialist knowledge, as few of China's zoologists were naturalist
s with an interest in observing wildlife. Producers even struggled to film the courting behaviour of one of the country's commonest creatures, the rice-paddy frog. Consequently, the team's attempts to find and film wildlife were not always successful.
With the support of local party officials, the producers found it easier to contact and film local people. They were particularly keen to record examples of traditional lifestyles which incorporate the natural world to give the series a cultural context. The episodes were divided by region to present the distinct cultural as well as ecological differences.
Certain sequences could only be filmed using special techniques:
In some circumstances behaviour was too difficult to obtain in the wild, and controlled conditions were required:
The first programme in the series concentrates on South China, where the climate and terrain is ideal for rice
cultivation. The terraced paddy field
s of Yuanyang County plunge 2000 metres down steep hillsides to the Red River valley, and are some of the oldest man-made structures in China. In a Miao
household in Guizhou
province, the arrival of red-rumped swallow
s signals the time for planting. Other creatures which benefit from the rice monoculture include little egret
s and Chinese pond heron
s. Of the hundreds of cave
s beneath the limestone
hills of this karst
region, few have been explored. At Zhongdong
, an entire community, including a school, lives in the shelter of a cave. Francois' langur
s, a rare primate, use their rock-climbing skills to enter caves at night for protection. Other cave dwellers include swift
s and Rickett’s mouse eared bats
, filmed for the first time catching fish in the dark. Freshwater creatures are an important resource for the people of South China. The Li River
cormorant fishermen
now only practice their art for tourists, but at Caohai Lake
, dragonfly nymphs are a unique and valuable harvest. Some delicacies, such as freshwater turtle
s, are vanishingly rare. Chinese alligator
s only survive in Anhui
province thanks to dedicated conservation efforts. A troop of Huangshan macaques
is shown retreating to the safety of the treetops when a venomous Chinese moccasin is spotted. After the autumn rice harvest, migratory birds including tundra swans and Siberian crane
s gather at Poyang Lake.
This episode profiles the rich biodiversity
of south-western Yunnan
province. Forming the eastern boundary of the Himalaya, the Hengduan Mountains
have buckled into a series of parallel ridges running north-south. The Nujiang River is one of a succession of deep gorges that carve their way through the mountains. In summer, monsoon
rainclouds from the Indian Ocean
are funnelled up the valleys, creating a unique climate in which species from the tropics
can flourish at a more northerly latitude
. Yunnan’s 18,000 plant species, of which 3,000 are found nowhere else, attracted Western botanists and explorers such as Joseph Rock
. In the snowbound forests surrounding the pilgrimage site of Kawakarpo (6740m), rare Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys are filmed feeding on lichen
. In the Gaoligong Mountains, tropical and alpine plants grow side by side. Birdlife filmed here includes sunbird
s feeding on epiphytes and the courtship display of a Temminck's Tragopan
. The fruiting trees attract bear macaques and black giant squirrel
s, whilst China’s 250 remaining wild Asian elephant
s forage below. A Lesser Bamboo Bat
colony is filmed at their roost inside a single stem; each bat is the size of a bumblebee. A giant elephant yam flower is pollinated by carrion beetle
s at night. Black crested gibbons are filmed in the forests of Wuliangshan. The people of Yunnan include the Dai
, Hani
and Jino
tribes, each of whom regard the forests as sacred and harvest them sustainably, but modern times are bringing new threats such as rubber plantations and tourism.
The Tibetan Plateau
is the subject of the third instalment. It covers one quarter of China’s land area, but just 2.5 million people live there, the majority Tibetan Buddhists. Their religion mixes traditional Buddhism
with older shamanic beliefs, and its teachings have instilled a respectful attitude to wildlife. Rare species such as black-necked crane
s and Tibetan eared pheasant
s can benefit directly from co-existence with people. Meltwater
s from Tibet’s 35,000 glacier
s form large freshwater lakes including Qinghai and Manasarovar
. Nesting birds here include great crested grebe
s and bar-headed geese. The plateau is a high altitude desert swept by freezing winds, but is also home to China’s biggest concentration of large animals. Argali
sheep are seen descending hillsides to their winter grazing sites. In the Changtang, Chiru
are filmed congregating in the rutting season, and wild yaks are only found in the remotest areas. Predators include the elusive snow leopard
and the Tibetan fox
, filmed profiting from a Tibetan bear’s attempts to hunt pika
. A highly lucrative "caterpillar fungus" (yatsa gunbu) is harvested from the spring ground for use as a traditional remedy. Life even clings on in the most extreme environments; the slopes of Everest are home to a species of jumping spider
, whilst the unique hot spring snake survives at 4,500m by warming its body in thermal springs. The Saga Dawa festival takes place at sacred Mount Kailash
and draws pilgrims of many faiths. Tibet is a fragile ecosystem
; its glaciers are melting, and this will have a profound effect on the future for billions of people who depend on waters flowing from the plateau.
The fourth episode looks at the lands north of China’s Great Wall
. Here, nomad
ic tribes from a variety of ethnic groups still roam, but their traditional ways of life are changing as people move to modern cities. In ancient Manchuria
, the last Hezhe fishermen still cast their nets beneath the thick ice of the frozen Black Dragon River. The forests here support wild boar, which forage for walnuts in winter, and the last remaining wild Siberian tigers in China. Ewenki
reindeer
herders came from Siberia
hundreds of years ago: now, only 30 remain. Further west lie the rolling Mongolian steppe grasslands, and at Bayan Bulak, the livestock of Mongolian
horsemen share the pastures and wetlands with breeding demoiselle crane
s and whooper swan
s. Continuing westwards, the land becomes increasingly hot and dry, turning first to arid grasslands roamed by rare goitered gazelle
s, and then to the Taklamakan Desert, the world’s largest shifting sand desert. Here stand ruined towns, a legacy of the Silk Road
, and many yardang
s, sand-sculpted rock formations. Underground irrigation canals at the Turpan oasis
enable grapes to be cultivated, and red-tailed gerbils are quick to take advantage. Kazakh
nomads spend the summer in the Tian Shan
before descending to the Junggar Basin, an arid land bordering the Gobi Desert
, to overwinter. Here their livestock shares the meagre pasture with the last wild horse
s on earth. A Kazakh demonstrates the 6000-year-old tradition of hunting with golden eagle
s. The closing scenes show the Harbin Ice Festival.
The fifth instalment features central China, home to the Han Chinese
. They are the largest ethnic group on Earth, and their language Mandarin
the most widely spoken. The programme looks at how the relationship between people and wildlife has changed over time. Ancient Chinese beliefs placed great importance in the harmonious co-existence of man and nature. At the beginning of China’s period of rapid economic growth, this ideal was largely forgotten. A number of political references contrast the more enlightened environmental policies of the current government with those under Chairman Mao Zedong
, which led to widespread degradation. The Chinese alligator
and crested ibis
are two species saved from extinction by direct intervention. Other animals have benefited from ancient spiritual beliefs and customs which live on, promoting respect and reverence for wildlife: the yellow weasel
s and Mandarin duck
s of Beijing
are two such creatures. However, wildlife is still threatened by illegal poaching
for food and traditional medicine
. West of Beijing lie the fertile lands of the North China Plain
and the Loess plateau
, source of the Yellow River
. Increased demand for water has changed the river’s flow, and soil erosion causes dust storm
s which reach the capital. Further west, the Qinling Mountains are a refuge for some of China’s rarest species including the takin
, golden snub-nosed monkey
and giant panda. Giant panda courtship and mating is shown, filmed for the first time in the wild. In the colourful lakes of Jiuzhaigou, unique fish swim amongst forests preserved underwater.
The final programme features China’s 14,500km coastline, home to 700 million people. Despite decades of rapid urban development, it is still an important migration route for birds. Endangered red-crowned crane
s depart their northern breeding grounds to overwinter at Yancheng
salt marsh
, the largest coastal wetland
in China. Shedao Island is an important stopover on the migration route, but the resident Shedao Island pitviper
s, stranded by rising sea levels, lie in ambush in the branches. A snake strikes a songbird
, and another is filmed swallowing a kingfisher
. All along the coast, traditional forms of cultivation allow wildlife and people to live side by side. Crops vary from seaweed
and cockle
s in the north to prawn
s further south, allowing birds such as whooper swan
s and black-faced spoonbill
s to prosper. Kejia
tea
-growers and Hui'an women harvesting oyster
s are also shown. China’s rivers and seas are heavily polluted
. Sewage
and fertiliser washed into the Bohai Gulf
cause plankton
blooms, attracting jellyfish
, which in China are a commercial catch. In the Yangtze estuary
, the migrations of creatures such as Yangtze sturgeon and mitten crabs are being impeded by upstream dam
s. In the tropical South China Sea
, where coral reef
s are under threat, whale shark
s are rare visitors. Other rare creatures filmed include Pere David's deer
and Chinese white dolphin
s. On Hainan
island, macaque
s are shown jumping into a hotel swimming pool, epitomising the uneasy coexistence of wildlife and people in China, and the challenge of continuing its traditional harmonious relationship with nature.
A Blu-Ray disc
, DVD and book have been released to accompany the TV series:
Nature documentary
A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
series on the natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
and China Central Television
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
(CCTV) and filmed entirely in high-definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
(HD). It was screened in the UK on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
from 11 May to 5 June 2008. The English narration was provided by Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
and the series produced by Phil Chapman for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Gao Xiaoping for CCTV. The Chinese version was broadcast under the title Beautiful China. In Canada, it was broadcast on CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
as part of the series The Nature Of Things
The Nature of Things
The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on the CBC on November 6, 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it. The program was one of the first to explore environmental issues, such as clear-cut logging...
narrated by David Suzuki
David Suzuki
David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...
. Wild China was also broadcast in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on ABC1
ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
and ABC HD each Sunday at 7:30pm from 18 May 2008.
The musical score to accompany the series was composed by Barnaby Taylor and is performed by Cheng Yu and the UK Chinese Ensemble.
Prior to broadcast, the series was billed as the culmination of the BBC Natural History Unit's "Continents" programmes, a long-running strand of blue-chip wildlife documentaries which surveyed the natural history of each of the world's major land areas. It was preceded by Wild Caribbean
Wild Caribbean
Wild Caribbean is a four-part BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural and cultural history of the Caribbean Islands and Sea. It was first transmitted in the UK on BBC2 in January 2007. The series was produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and narrated by actor Steve Toussaint...
in 2007, but with the broadcast of South Pacific
South Pacific (TV series)
South Pacific is a British nature documentary series from the BBC Natural History Unit, which began airing on BBC Two on 10 May 2009. The six-part series surveys the natural history of the islands of the South Pacific region, including many of the coral atolls and New Zealand. It was filmed...
in 2009 the BBC signalled a continuation of the strand.
Production details
The 2008 Beijing Olympics gave the BBC Natural History Unit team the opportunity to make the first comprehensive series on China's natural historyNatural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. In the run up to the Games, the Chinese government was "understandably keen to promote itself as a country worth visiting" according to BBC producer Phil Chapman. Permission for Wild China was granted in 2005, with the BBC working alongside local partners CTV, a Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
production company closely allied to state broadcaster CCTV. The series marks the first time that CCTV has collaborated with a foreign broadcaster.
With wildlife filmmaking in its infancy in China, and a perception in the developed world of a country plagued by environmental problems, the producers hoped that the series would change attitudes in both the East and the West:
Filming for the series took place over 16 months, and involved half a million miles of travel on 57 separate filming trips to some of China's most inaccessible and spectacular locations. The production team shot over 500 hours of HD footage in 26 of China's 30 provinces.
Despite being granted unprecedented access to many remote and protected areas, one of the main challenges faced by the filmmakers was finding wildlife. Although 15% of China's territory has some form of protection, this is not a guarantee of safety for wildlife, as reserves were often found to be under-equipped and under-staffed. In addition, they encountered a lack of local expertise and specialist knowledge, as few of China's zoologists were naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
s with an interest in observing wildlife. Producers even struggled to film the courting behaviour of one of the country's commonest creatures, the rice-paddy frog. Consequently, the team's attempts to find and film wildlife were not always successful.
With the support of local party officials, the producers found it easier to contact and film local people. They were particularly keen to record examples of traditional lifestyles which incorporate the natural world to give the series a cultural context. The episodes were divided by region to present the distinct cultural as well as ecological differences.
Filming techniques
Over 80% of the series was based on traditional observational techniques in the wild. These were conducted in some of China's most remote areas:- Apart from a handful of biologists, the Wild China team were the first to set foot in TibetTibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
’s remote Chang TangChangthangThe Changtang is a high altitude plateau in western and northern Tibet extending into southeastern Ladakh, with vast highlands and giant lakes. From Eastern Ladakh Changtang stretches approximately 1600 km east into Tibet, as far as the state of Qinghai. All of it is geographically part of...
reserve for almost 100 years. After a five-day drive from LhasaLhasaLhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
, they were faced with the challenge of filming rutting chiru in temperatures of -30°CCelsiusCelsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
at 5,000m above sea level. The sequence showing a duel between two rival males was successfully filmed after staking out the herds for seven days. - After two unsuccessful attempts to film wild giant pandaGiant PandaThe giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
s in the Qinling MountainsQinling MountainsThe Qin Mountains are a major east-west mountain range in southern Shaanxi province, China. The mountains provide a natural boundary between the North and South of the country, and support a huge variety of plant and wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else on Earth.To the north is the...
, the producers switched to a different part of the region, the little-visited Changqing ReserveChangqing National Nature ReserveChangqing Nature Reserve is located near Huayang Village in the Qin Mountains of Shaanxi province of China.* Location: 300 km south of Xi'an* Area: nearly 300 km²* Highest point: 3071 meters* Year established: 1995* Telephone: 86-916-822-6504...
. Here they were able to track and film the creatures in winter, and also film courtship and mating activity, the first time such a complete sequence has been shot in the wild. - Producer Kathryn Jeffs and cameraman Paul Stewart travelled to the remote Gaoligongshan mountains in western YunnanYunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
and after a three-hour trek to a ridge overlooking the forest, managed to film a troop of bear macaquesStump-tailed MacaqueThe stump-tailed macaque , also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in Southern Asia. In India, it is found in south of the Brahmaputra river, in northeastern part of the country.Its range in India extends from Assam and Meghalaya to eastern Aruanchal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur,...
feeding on fruits in the canopy. A second sequence showing white-eared pheasantWhite-eared PheasantThe Genus Crosssoptilon comprises four distinct ecological species of "Eared Pheasants", so named because of their prominent ear tufts.White Eared Pheasants are called Shagga by indigenous Himalayan peoples...
s at a rarely seen lek was ruined when the birds were disturbed.
Certain sequences could only be filmed using special techniques:
- High speed cameraHigh speed cameraA high speed camera is a device used for recording fast moving objects as a photographic image onto a storage media. After recording, the images stored on the media can be played back in slow-motion...
s were used to slow down the action 80 times to show a songbirdPasserineA passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
evading the lunge of a Pallas' pit viper on Shedao Island. - A time-lapseTime-lapseTime-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
sequence of a remote Tibetan gorge was filmed using still images taken at intervals after the main filming camera broke down. - InfraredInfraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
lighting enabled the team to film Francois langurs and bamboo batLesser Bamboo BatThe Lesser Bamboo Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family. It is found in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines....
s covertly. - Thermal imaging cameraThermographic cameraA thermographic camera or infrared camera is a device that forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light...
s were used to show how the elephant yamAmorphophallusAmorphophallus is a large genus of some 170 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family...
uses convection heating at night to distribute its distinctive smell, which attracts pollinating beetles.
In some circumstances behaviour was too difficult to obtain in the wild, and controlled conditions were required:
- Bamboo ratBamboo ratThe bamboo rats are four species of rodents of the subfamily Rhizomyinae. They are the sole living representatives of the tribe Rhizomyini. All are found in the eastern half of Asia.The species are:...
s and Roborovski hamsterRoborovski hamsterRoborovskis or desert hamsters are the smallest of all hamsters, averaging under an inch at birth, and three inches during adulthood...
s were filmed in subterranean burrows with glass side panels in a studio set. - The producers negotiated an agreement to take Chinese alligatorChinese AlligatorThe Chinese alligator or Alligator Alligator sinensis) is one of two known living species of Alligator, a genus in the family Alligatoridae. The Chinese alligator is native only to China...
eggs from an incubator at the XuanchengXuanchengXuancheng is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province of Eastern China. It borders Wuhu to the northwest, Chizhou to the west, Huangshan to the southwest, and the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu to the southeast and northeast respectively....
breeding centre and place them in an artificial nest to film them hatching. - The courtship display of Temminck's tragopanTemminck's TragopanThe Temminck's Tragopan, Tragopan temminckii is a medium-sized, approximately 64cm long, pheasant in the genus Tragopan. The male is a stocky red-and-orange bird with white-spotted plumage, black bill and pink legs. It has a bare blue facial skin, inflatable dark-blue lappet and horns...
s was filmed using a captive pair of birds habituated to the presence of humans. Hunting pressure has made the wild birds in Yunnan too wary to approach. - The slowed-down images of jumping spiderEuophrys omnisuperstesEuophrys omnisuperstes is a small jumping spider that lives at elevations of up to 6,700 meters on Mount Everest, making it possibly the highest known permanent resident on earth. They are known to lurk in crevices among rocky debris...
s on Everest could not be filmed in the wild due to the impracticality of transporting high-speed camera equipment to the remote location, so a closely related species was filmed in a studio set.
1. "Heart of the Dragon"
- UK broadcast 11 May 2008, 2.55m viewers (11% audience share)
The first programme in the series concentrates on South China, where the climate and terrain is ideal for rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
cultivation. The terraced paddy field
Paddy field
A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...
s of Yuanyang County plunge 2000 metres down steep hillsides to the Red River valley, and are some of the oldest man-made structures in China. In a Miao
Miao people
The Miao or ม้ง ; ) is an ethnic group recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component nations of people, which include Hmong, Hmu, A Hmao, and Kho Xiong...
household in Guizhou
Guizhou
' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :...
province, the arrival of red-rumped swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
The Red-rumped Swallow is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in open hilly country of temperate southern Europe and Asia from Portugal and Spain to Japan, India and tropical Africa. The Indian and African birds are resident, but European and other Asian birds are migratory...
s signals the time for planting. Other creatures which benefit from the rice monoculture include little egret
Little Egret
The Little Egret is a small white heron. It is the Old World counterpart to the very similar New World Snowy Egret.-Subspecies:Depending on authority, two or three subspecies of Little Egret are currently accepted....
s and Chinese pond heron
Chinese Pond Heron
The Chinese Pond Heron is an East Asian freshwater bird of the heron family .It is one of six species of birds known as "pond herons" . It is parapatric with the Indian Pond Heron to the west and the Javan Pond Heron The Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) is an East Asian freshwater bird of...
s. Of the hundreds of cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
s beneath the limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
hills of this karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
region, few have been explored. At Zhongdong
Zhongdong
Zhongdong is a village in Ziyun county, Anshun prefecture in Guizhou Province, People's Republic of China. It is thought to be the only inhabited, year-round settlement in China located inside a naturally occurring cave. The limestone Zhong Cave is the largest of three local caves, set between an...
, an entire community, including a school, lives in the shelter of a cave. Francois' langur
Francois' Langur
Francois' langur or Francois' leaf monkey is a species of lutung and the type species of its species group. Francois' langur belongs to the Colobinae subfamily, Cercopithecidae family, in the Primates order...
s, a rare primate, use their rock-climbing skills to enter caves at night for protection. Other cave dwellers include swift
Swift
The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are actually not closely related to passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with hummingbirds...
s and Rickett’s mouse eared bats
Rickett's Big-footed Bat
Rickett's Big-Footed Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.It can be found in the following countries: China and Laos.-Source:* Chiroptera Specialist Group 1996. . Downloaded on 09 July 2007....
, filmed for the first time catching fish in the dark. Freshwater creatures are an important resource for the people of South China. The Li River
Lijiang River
The Li River or Lijiang River is a river in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.-Background:The Li River originates in the Mao'er Mountains in Xing'an County and flows in the general southern direction through Guilin, Yangshuo and Pingle....
cormorant fishermen
Cormorant fishing
Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing method in which fishermen use trained cormorants to fish in rivers. Historically, cormorant fishing has taken place in Japan and China from around 960 AD.and recorded from other places throughout the world....
now only practice their art for tourists, but at Caohai Lake
Caohai Lake
Caohai Lake is a natural water-body situated in the Northwest Guizhou Province, of Southwest China. The lake is situated on the Weining Mountain, at the outskirt of Weining County. Caohai Village lies directly at the edge of the wetland...
, dragonfly nymphs are a unique and valuable harvest. Some delicacies, such as freshwater turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s, are vanishingly rare. Chinese alligator
Chinese Alligator
The Chinese alligator or Alligator Alligator sinensis) is one of two known living species of Alligator, a genus in the family Alligatoridae. The Chinese alligator is native only to China...
s only survive in Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
province thanks to dedicated conservation efforts. A troop of Huangshan macaques
Tibetan macaque
The Tibetan macaque , also known as the Chinese stump-tailed macaque or Milne-Edwards' macaque, is found from eastern Tibet east to Guangdong and north to Shaanxi in China and has recently been reported from north-eastern India. This species lives in subtropical forests at altitude that range from...
is shown retreating to the safety of the treetops when a venomous Chinese moccasin is spotted. After the autumn rice harvest, migratory birds including tundra swans and Siberian crane
Siberian Crane
The Siberian Crane also known as the Siberian White Crane or the Snow Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes...
s gather at Poyang Lake.
2. "Shangri-La"
- UK broadcast 18 May 2008, 2.57m viewers (10.6% audience share)
This episode profiles the rich biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
of south-western Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
province. Forming the eastern boundary of the Himalaya, the Hengduan Mountains
Hengduan Shan
The Hengduan Mountains is a large mountainous region in southwest China , forming the south-eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and adjacent from the west to the Sichuan Basin....
have buckled into a series of parallel ridges running north-south. The Nujiang River is one of a succession of deep gorges that carve their way through the mountains. In summer, monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
rainclouds from the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
are funnelled up the valleys, creating a unique climate in which species from the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
can flourish at a more northerly latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
. Yunnan’s 18,000 plant species, of which 3,000 are found nowhere else, attracted Western botanists and explorers such as Joseph Rock
Joseph Rock
Joseph Francis Charles Rock was an Austrian-American explorer, geographer, linguist and botanist.-Life:He was born in Vienna, Austria, but emigrated to the United States in 1905 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1907, where he eventually became an authority on the flora there...
. In the snowbound forests surrounding the pilgrimage site of Kawakarpo (6740m), rare Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys are filmed feeding on lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
. In the Gaoligong Mountains, tropical and alpine plants grow side by side. Birdlife filmed here includes sunbird
Sunbird
The sunbirds and spiderhunters are a family, Nectariniidae, of very small passerine birds. There are 132 species in 15 genera. The family is distributed throughout Africa, southern Asia and just reaches northern Australia. Most sunbirds feed largely on nectar, but also take insects and spiders,...
s feeding on epiphytes and the courtship display of a Temminck's Tragopan
Temminck's Tragopan
The Temminck's Tragopan, Tragopan temminckii is a medium-sized, approximately 64cm long, pheasant in the genus Tragopan. The male is a stocky red-and-orange bird with white-spotted plumage, black bill and pink legs. It has a bare blue facial skin, inflatable dark-blue lappet and horns...
. The fruiting trees attract bear macaques and black giant squirrel
Black Giant Squirrel
The black giant squirrel is a large tree squirrel in the genus Ratufa native to the Indomalayan zootope...
s, whilst China’s 250 remaining wild Asian elephant
Asian Elephant
The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
s forage below. A Lesser Bamboo Bat
Lesser Bamboo Bat
The Lesser Bamboo Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family. It is found in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines....
colony is filmed at their roost inside a single stem; each bat is the size of a bumblebee. A giant elephant yam flower is pollinated by carrion beetle
Carrion beetle
Silphidae is a family of beetles that are known commonly as carrion or burying beetles. There are two subfamilies: Silphinae and Nicrophorinae. Both families feed on decaying organic matter such as dead animals. The families differ in which uses parental care and which types of carcasses they prefer...
s at night. Black crested gibbons are filmed in the forests of Wuliangshan. The people of Yunnan include the Dai
Dai people
The Dai peoples is one of several ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture , but by extension can apply to groups in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma when Dai is used to mean specifically Tai Lue, Chinese Shan or even...
, Hani
Hani people
thumb|Typical daily attire of ethnic Hani in China. Near [[Yuanyang County, Yunnan|Yuanyang]], [[Yunnan]] Province, [[China]] The Hani people are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They also form one of the 54 officially...
and Jino
Jino
The Jino people are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
tribes, each of whom regard the forests as sacred and harvest them sustainably, but modern times are bringing new threats such as rubber plantations and tourism.
3. "Tibet"
- UK broadcast 25 May 2008, 2.88m viewers (12% audience share)
The Tibetan Plateau
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...
is the subject of the third instalment. It covers one quarter of China’s land area, but just 2.5 million people live there, the majority Tibetan Buddhists. Their religion mixes traditional Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
with older shamanic beliefs, and its teachings have instilled a respectful attitude to wildlife. Rare species such as black-necked crane
Black-necked Crane
The Black-necked Crane is a medium-sized crane that is found on the Tibetan Plateau of Asia. It is 139 cm long with a 235 cm wingspan, and it weighs 5.5 kg . It is whitish-gray, with a black head, red crown patch, black upper neck and legs, and white patch to the rear of the eye...
s and Tibetan eared pheasant
Tibetan Eared Pheasant
The Tibetan Eared Pheasant is a species of bird in the Phasianidae family. It is found in China and India.Its natural habitats are boreal forests and temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.-Source:...
s can benefit directly from co-existence with people. Meltwater
Meltwater
Meltwater is the water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice and ice shelfs over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing...
s from Tibet’s 35,000 glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s form large freshwater lakes including Qinghai and Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar, Mapam Yumco , or Manasa Sarovar/Lake Manas , is a fresh-water lake in Tibet Autonomous Region of China approximately from Lhasa. To the west of Lake Manasa Sarovar is Lake Rakshastal and towards the north is Mount Kailash...
. Nesting birds here include great crested grebe
Great Crested Grebe
The Great Crested Grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds.- Description :The Great Crested Grebe is long with a wingspan. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its fish prey underwater. The adults are unmistakable in summer with head and neck decorations...
s and bar-headed geese. The plateau is a high altitude desert swept by freezing winds, but is also home to China’s biggest concentration of large animals. Argali
Argali
The argali, or the mountain sheep is a wild sheep, which roams the highlands of Central Asia . It is the biggest wild sheep, standing at the shoulder, measuring long and weighing , with a maximum known weight of...
sheep are seen descending hillsides to their winter grazing sites. In the Changtang, Chiru
Tibetan antelope
The Tibetan antelope or chiru is a medium-sized bovid which is about in height at the shoulder. It is the sole species in the genus Pantholops and is placed in its own subfamily, Pantholopinae...
are filmed congregating in the rutting season, and wild yaks are only found in the remotest areas. Predators include the elusive snow leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
and the Tibetan fox
Tibetan Fox
The Tibetan sand fox is a species of true fox endemic to the high Tibetan Plateau in Nepal, China, Sikkim, and Bhutan, up to altitudes of about 5300 m...
, filmed profiting from a Tibetan bear’s attempts to hunt pika
Pika
The pika is a small mammal, with short limbs, rounded ears, and short tail. The name pika is used for any member of the Ochotonidae, a family within the order of lagomorphs, which also includes the Leporidae . One genus, Ochotona, is recognised within the family, and it includes 30 species...
. A highly lucrative "caterpillar fungus" (yatsa gunbu) is harvested from the spring ground for use as a traditional remedy. Life even clings on in the most extreme environments; the slopes of Everest are home to a species of jumping spider
Jumping spider
The jumping spider family contains more than 500 described genera and about 5,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders with about 13% of all species. Jumping spiders have some of the best vision among invertebrates and use it in courtship, hunting and navigation...
, whilst the unique hot spring snake survives at 4,500m by warming its body in thermal springs. The Saga Dawa festival takes place at sacred Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...
and draws pilgrims of many faiths. Tibet is a fragile ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
; its glaciers are melting, and this will have a profound effect on the future for billions of people who depend on waters flowing from the plateau.
4. "Beyond the Great Wall"
- UK broadcast 1 June 2008, 3.23m viewers (13.7% audience share)
The fourth episode looks at the lands north of China’s Great Wall
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
. Here, nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic tribes from a variety of ethnic groups still roam, but their traditional ways of life are changing as people move to modern cities. In ancient Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, the last Hezhe fishermen still cast their nets beneath the thick ice of the frozen Black Dragon River. The forests here support wild boar, which forage for walnuts in winter, and the last remaining wild Siberian tigers in China. Ewenki
Evenks
The Evenks are a Tungusic people of Northern Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 35,527...
reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
herders came from Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
hundreds of years ago: now, only 30 remain. Further west lie the rolling Mongolian steppe grasslands, and at Bayan Bulak, the livestock of Mongolian
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
horsemen share the pastures and wetlands with breeding demoiselle crane
Demoiselle Crane
The Demoiselle Crane, Anthropoides virgo, is a species of crane that breeds in Central Asia and winters in India, with a few found in Cyprus and eastern Turkey as well. The crane annually migrates to Africa and South Asia in winter...
s and whooper swan
Whooper Swan
The Whooper Swan , Cygnus cygnus, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan. An old name for the Whooper Swan is Elk; it is so called in Francis Willughby and John Ray's Ornithology of 1676.-Description:The Whooper Swan is similar in...
s. Continuing westwards, the land becomes increasingly hot and dry, turning first to arid grasslands roamed by rare goitered gazelle
Goitered Gazelle
The Goitered, Black-tailed or Persian gazelle is a gazelle found in the north part of Azerbaijan, in a large area of central Asia, including part of Iran and southern west Pakistan in the western end of the range, as well as the Gobi desert...
s, and then to the Taklamakan Desert, the world’s largest shifting sand desert. Here stand ruined towns, a legacy of the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
, and many yardang
Yardang
A yardang is a streamlined hill carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semiconsolidated material by the dual action of wind abrasion, dust and sand, and deflation. Yardangs become elongated features typically three or more times longer than wide, and when viewed from above, resemble the hull of...
s, sand-sculpted rock formations. Underground irrigation canals at the Turpan oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
enable grapes to be cultivated, and red-tailed gerbils are quick to take advantage. Kazakh
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
nomads spend the summer in the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
before descending to the Junggar Basin, an arid land bordering the Gobi Desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
, to overwinter. Here their livestock shares the meagre pasture with the last wild horse
Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
s on earth. A Kazakh demonstrates the 6000-year-old tradition of hunting with golden eagle
Eagle hunting
Hunting with golden eagles is a traditional art of the Eurasian steppes, particularly in Central Asia. It is a type of falconry.- Terminology :...
s. The closing scenes show the Harbin Ice Festival.
5. "Land of the Panda"
- UK broadcast 8 June 2008, 3.19m viewers (13.3% audience share)
The fifth instalment features central China, home to the Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
. They are the largest ethnic group on Earth, and their language Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
the most widely spoken. The programme looks at how the relationship between people and wildlife has changed over time. Ancient Chinese beliefs placed great importance in the harmonious co-existence of man and nature. At the beginning of China’s period of rapid economic growth, this ideal was largely forgotten. A number of political references contrast the more enlightened environmental policies of the current government with those under Chairman Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, which led to widespread degradation. The Chinese alligator
Chinese Alligator
The Chinese alligator or Alligator Alligator sinensis) is one of two known living species of Alligator, a genus in the family Alligatoridae. The Chinese alligator is native only to China...
and crested ibis
Crested Ibis
The Crested Ibis , also known as the Japanese Crested Ibis or Toki , is a large , white-plumaged ibis of pine forests. Its head is partially bare, showing red skin, and it has a dense crest of white plumes on the nape. This species is the only member of the genus Nipponia.Their habitat is usually...
are two species saved from extinction by direct intervention. Other animals have benefited from ancient spiritual beliefs and customs which live on, promoting respect and reverence for wildlife: the yellow weasel
Siberian Weasel
The Siberian weasel , also known as the Kolonok, is a medium-sized species of weasel native to Asia. It is classed as Least Concern for extinction by the IUCN, due to its wide distribution and presumably large numbers....
s and Mandarin duck
Mandarin Duck
The Mandarin Duck , or just Mandarin, is a medium-sized perching duck, closely related to the North American Wood Duck. It is 41–49 cm long with a 65–75 cm wingspan.-Description:...
s of Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
are two such creatures. However, wildlife is still threatened by illegal poaching
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
for food and traditional medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
. West of Beijing lie the fertile lands of the North China Plain
North China Plain
The North China Plain is based on the deposits of the Yellow River and is the largest alluvial plain of eastern Asia. The plain is bordered on the north by the Yanshan Mountains and on the west by the Taihang Mountains edge of the Shanxi plateau. To the south, it merges into the Yangtze Plain...
and the Loess plateau
Loess Plateau
The Loess Plateau , also known as the Huangtu Plateau, is a plateau that covers an area of some 640,000 km² in the upper and middle reaches of China's Yellow River. Loess is the name for the silty sediment that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages...
, source of the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
. Increased demand for water has changed the river’s flow, and soil erosion causes dust storm
Dust storm
A dust / sand storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil to move from one place and deposition...
s which reach the capital. Further west, the Qinling Mountains are a refuge for some of China’s rarest species including the takin
Takin
The Takin , also called cattle chamois or gnu goat, is a goat-antelope found in the Eastern Himalayas. There are four subspecies: B. taxicolor taxicolor, the Mishmi Takin; B. taxicolor bedfordi, the Shanxi or Golden Takin; B. taxicolor tibetana, the Tibetan or Sichuan Takin; and B. taxicolor...
, golden snub-nosed monkey
Golden Snub-nosed Monkey
The golden snub-nosed monkey is an Old World monkey in the Colobinae subfamily. It is endemic to a small area in temperate, mountainous forests of central and Southwest China. The Chinese name is sichuan golden hair monkey . It is also widely referred to as the sichuan snub-nosed monkey...
and giant panda. Giant panda courtship and mating is shown, filmed for the first time in the wild. In the colourful lakes of Jiuzhaigou, unique fish swim amongst forests preserved underwater.
6. "Tides of Change"
- UK broadcast 15 June 2008, 2.52m viewers (10% audience share)
The final programme features China’s 14,500km coastline, home to 700 million people. Despite decades of rapid urban development, it is still an important migration route for birds. Endangered red-crowned crane
Red-crowned Crane
The Red-crowned Crane , also called the Japanese Crane or Manchurian Crane , is a large east Asian crane and among the rarest cranes in the world...
s depart their northern breeding grounds to overwinter at Yancheng
Yancheng Coastal Wetlands
The Yancheng Coastal Wetlands refers to the wetlands in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China.It is named after the Dongbei and Liao Rivers is connected to the Songnen Plain through the Yellow River Valley; a small plain lies north of Dongting Lake in the west....
salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
, the largest coastal wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
in China. Shedao Island is an important stopover on the migration route, but the resident Shedao Island pitviper
Gloydius
Gloydius is a genus of venomous pitvipers found in Asia. Named after Howard Gloyd, this group is very similar to the North American genus Agkistrodon...
s, stranded by rising sea levels, lie in ambush in the branches. A snake strikes a songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
, and another is filmed swallowing a kingfisher
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
. All along the coast, traditional forms of cultivation allow wildlife and people to live side by side. Crops vary from seaweed
Seaweed
Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...
and cockle
Cockle (bivalve)
Cockle is the common name for a group of small, edible, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae.Various species of cockles live in sandy sheltered beaches throughout the world....
s in the north to prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
s further south, allowing birds such as whooper swan
Whooper Swan
The Whooper Swan , Cygnus cygnus, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan. An old name for the Whooper Swan is Elk; it is so called in Francis Willughby and John Ray's Ornithology of 1676.-Description:The Whooper Swan is similar in...
s and black-faced spoonbill
Black-faced Spoonbill
The Black-faced Spoonbill has the most restricted distribution of all spoonbills, and it is the only one currently regarded as endangered. Confined to the coastal areas of eastern Asia, it seems that it was once common throughout its area of distribution...
s to prosper. Kejia
Hakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
tea
Oolong
Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea produced through a unique process including withering under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting. Most oolong teas, especially those of fine quality, involve unique tea plant cultivars that are exclusively used for particular varieties...
-growers and Hui'an women harvesting oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s are also shown. China’s rivers and seas are heavily polluted
Water pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
. Sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
and fertiliser washed into the Bohai Gulf
Bohai Sea
Bohai Sea , also known as Bohai Gulf, Bohai, or Bo Hai, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of Northeastern and North China. It is approximately 78,000 km2 Bohai Sea , also known as Bohai Gulf, Bohai, or Bo Hai, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of...
cause plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
blooms, attracting jellyfish
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
, which in China are a commercial catch. In the Yangtze estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
, the migrations of creatures such as Yangtze sturgeon and mitten crabs are being impeded by upstream dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
s. In the tropical South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
, where coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
s are under threat, whale shark
Whale shark
The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow-moving filter feeding shark, the largest extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of and a weight of more than , but unconfirmed claims report considerably larger whale sharks...
s are rare visitors. Other rare creatures filmed include Pere David's deer
Père David's Deer
Père David's Deer, Elaphurus davidianus, also known as the Milu , is a species of deer known only in captivity. It prefers marshland, and is believed to be native to the subtropics of China. It grazes on a mixture of grass and water plants. It is the only extant member of the genus Elaphurus...
and Chinese white dolphin
Chinese White Dolphin
The Chinese white dolphin is a humpback dolphin species, one of eighty cetacean species. An adult is white or pink and may appear as an albino dolphin to some. Uniquely, the population along the Chinese coast has pink skin. Pink skin is not pigment, but blood vessels for thermoregulation...
s. On Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
island, macaque
Rhesus Macaque
The Rhesus macaque , also called the Rhesus monkey, is one of the best-known species of Old World monkeys. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats...
s are shown jumping into a hotel swimming pool, epitomising the uneasy coexistence of wildlife and people in China, and the challenge of continuing its traditional harmonious relationship with nature.
Merchandise
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
, DVD and book have been released to accompany the TV series:
- The Blu-ray disc (BBCBD0025), released on 5 August 2008, presents the series in full high-definition format. The series is also included in the BBC High Definition Natural History Collection Blu-Ray box sets for Regions A and B (BBCBD0056).
- A Region 2DVD region codeDVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
, 2-disc DVD set (BBCDVD2146) featuring all six full-length episodes was released on 9 June 2008. The Region 4DVD region codeDVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
version of the DVD and Blu-ray was released by ABC DVD/Village Roadshow on 1 July 2008.
- The accompanying paperback book, Wild China: The Hidden Wonders of the World's Most Enigmatic Land by series producer Phil Chapman, was published by BBC BooksBBC BooksBBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
on 8 May 2008 (ISBN 1-846-07233-6).