WANLI CHENG, DI YI JI: WANLI CHANGCHENG WANLI CHANG {ODYSSEY OF THE GREAT WALL, PT. 1: THE GREAT WALL IS TEN THOUSAND LI LONG} {EPISODE 1 OF 3} {MANDARIN CHINESE} (TV)
Summary
The first of two programs on this tape. The premiere episode in this documentary series of CCTV journalist Jiao Jiacheng's travels along the Great Wall of China. In part 1, Jiao travels through the Gansu, Xinjiang, Shanxi, and Liaoning Provinces, seeking the "starting" and "ending" points of the Great Wall, and learning about the history of the Great Wall, as well as the people who live by it today. Episode 1 of Part 1 focuses on finding the western starting point of the Great Wall. It begins at the now hardly identifiable remains of the Great Wall near Lintao County in the Gansu Province. The host of the program Jiao Jiancheng interviews Great Wall expert Luo Zhewen, who claims that the actual length of the Great Wall is about fifty thousand kilometers, much longer than most scholars believe. Luo also claims that over twenty dynasties have had a hand in building the so-called Great Wall, each dynasty at a different location, totaling up to about fifty thousand kilometers. Next, Jiao talks with Beijing Drum Artist Zhao Xueyi. They discuss the famous story of Lady Mengjiang, a symbol of chastity in Chinese culture, who spent her whole life waiting and searching for her husband who was drafted to build the Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.). The program shows parts of the Great Wall on Huashan Mountain explaining that this portion was built by the State of Wei during the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.) to hold off the invasion from the State of Qin. Next, as a prelude to further discussion of the Qin dynasty's role in the creation of the Great Wall, Jiao interviews Qian Yunxuan, the art designer responsible for recreating the Qin Palace for modern films; some footage from these films is shown. The program then discusses the building of Great Wall in Xianyang (modern-day Lintao County) by Emperor Qin Shihuang after his unification of China in 221 B.C. Then, the program shows an aerial shot of Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb as Jiao and his crew arrive at the eighth wonder of the world -- the life-sized Terracota Warriors of Qin. Correspondent Li Peihong takes over here discussing the military art and culture of the Qin Dynasty with Tian Zhaolin, a researcher at the People's Revolution Military Museum. Then Jiao returns with an interview with Xiang Chunsong, the curator of Chifeng Museum, who displays the orders of Emperor Qin Shihuang to unify national weight and measure systems. Then, the crew goes to Tulonggang where they meet a local resident, Li Xiuyun, who has no idea that she is standing directly on a part of the ancient Great Wall. Continuing their search for the answer to the question of the Wall's true beginning, the crew visits various historical sites. First, they stop at Hebei Province Mulan Hunting Field to examine a stone tablet written under the orders of Qing Emperor Qianlong in 1752 about his discovery of some old ruins of the Great Wall in 1741 in that particular area. Next, the crew goes to Shaanxi Province Weicheng County to visit the mausoleum of Sima Qian, the great Chinese historian of the earlier Han Dynasty, who is believed to be the very first to record the existence of the Great Wall in his renowned book "Records of a Historian" (written sometime between 104 and 91 B.C.). The crew then interviews locals about Sima Qian, and many locals are able to tell the history of Sima Qian and his family in detail. Next, the program shifts back to the production crew that is searching for the western starting point of the Great Wall in Lintao County. The crew interviews some local high school students, who surprisingly know a bit about the old Great Wall in Lintao County. Next, Jiao meets an elderly man who points out a spot he believes is the site. The crew continues its search for the old Great Wall in Lintao, finding different answers from different people. At the very end, the crew interviews Sun Yimin, a geography teacher and one of the finders of the western starting point of the Great Wall in Lintao. Sun leads the crew to Shawangpo in Sanshilipu, Lintao -- the spot he believes is the real western starting point of the Great Wall.
(This program is in Mandarin Chinese. While the narration is not subtitled, interviews in various Chinese dialects -- Mandarin, Xiang, and Wu -- are all subtitled in Simplified Chinese.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Sun TV, 2002.
Details
- NETWORK: CCTV (China)
- DATE: October 31, 1991
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:58
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:69607.001
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: China - History -- Qin and Han dynasties, 221 B.C.-220 A.D.; Great Wall of China (China); International Collection - China; Travel
- SERIES RUN: CCTV (China) - TV series
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Chen Hanyuan … Executive Producer
- Guo Baoxiang … Executive Producer
- Gong Jun … Managing Producer
- Zhang Hua … Producer
- Zhang Junshi … Producer
- Duan Shucheng … Producer
- Deng Xiaohui … Producer
- Wang Lei … Producer
- Li Yuying … Producer
- Huang Haibo … Producer
- Liu Xiaoli … Director
- Wei Bin … Director
- Yi Ping … Director
- Wei Bin … Director
- Li Haihui … Music by
- Ai Liqun … Music by
- Wang Yiping … Music by
- Tan Lihua … Conductor
- China Film Music Troupe … Symphony Orchestra
- Wang Yan … Singer
- Jiao Jiancheng … Host
- Huang Zongying … Host
- Li Peihong … Host
- Lady Mengjiang
- Li Xiuyun
- Luo Zhewen
- Qian Yunxuan
- Qing Emperor Qianlong
- Qin Shihuang, First Emperor of Qin
- Sima Qian
- Sun Yimin
- Tian Zhaolin
- Xiang Chunsong
- Zhao Xueyi