Beijing Normal University

In the midst of a breathtaking landscape of mountains and lakes in China lies a hidden Taoist temple dedicated to Xiwangmu, a deity capable of granting immortality to those who achieve complete harmony with nature.

The Xibe ethnic group crossed China from east to west to defend the western frontier in the 18th century. Their main weapons were bows and arrows. Since then, they have kept their archery alive, passing it down from generation to generation. What began as a way of defending the country has become a sport that they are really good at and respect. Heirs of Xibo Archery focuses on people who have inherited this tradition and how they deal with it in their own ways.

In China’s Northeast, there is the Fuzhou Folk Music, a country music played with suona, big suona, double pipe, Zheng and percussion instruments. Song Xiping, a suona professor, is one of the main inheritors of this music.

In Xinjiang, in northwest China, an underground river brings life to the desert for the Uyghur people. An ancient construction whose waters flow from the depths of the earth to the lush grape fields, the Karez is known to those who benefit from it as the Mother River.

A short documentary about the tradition of making lacquer baskets in Longshui Village. Longshui's lacquer basket making technique was included in the third group of intangible cultural heritage protection lists in Fujian province in 2009. In contrast, the problem of the aging of the painting craftsman is serious, and in the age of mass consumption and mechanical reproduction, perhaps we need to find the lost craftsman spirit.

Thousands of years ago, a special ceremony of dance and music was created for Confucius, one of the most important thinkers in China and the world. Crossing the barriers of time, the ceremony is still held at the Confucius Temple in Qufu. In the same way, the values of Confucius continue to be carried in the hearts of the Chinese people.

The process of making the lacquer sticks, cutting the wood and bringing the food to people's mouths.

Zhu Songling is a retired paleontologist who worked at the Chongqing Natural History Museum for 40 years. He tells us his story while the dinosaur fossils he repaired are exhibited to the public every day.

The spiritual power behind China's national anthem.

At four points in his life, meet Mr. Bao Jinshan, the Mongolian calligrapher from the city of Ordos, in Inner Mongolia, through his great talent with the brush, pen, paper and ink plate, the four treasures of calligraphy. A worker, an apprentice, a teacher and a preserver of the ancient Mongolian language, Mr. Bao dedicated his life's work to this great form of art and communication that is calligraphy.

Akyns are Kazakh poets who sing improvised songs to the sound of the dombra. Jiahenur, a famous akyn in his region, is our guide on this musical journey through Kazakh life in the Chinese city of Kanzu, in his home province of Xinjiang. The narration for this documentary was improvised by Jiahenur and the dombra solos were played by Alaxi, his son.