What is the best way to introduce China to the outside world?

The answer may be "China Up Close," a series of 18 documentary films touring around colleges and embassies in China's major cities.

The film crew works with top documentary film making companies and channels, including Discovery, National Geography and PBS.

Liang Peng is a producer working for China Intercontinental Communication Centre (CICC), the media company that initiated the programme. Yuan Lili, vice director of the centre, had the idea of co-operating with international media to shoot documentary films about China back in 1994.

As China's economy and society develops rapidly during recent years, the world wants to know more about China.

"But with the difference in language and ways of thinking and expression, it is hard for the made-in-China documentary films to be widely accepted in Western countries, so we try to view China with our audience's eyes. And the best way to do this is to co-operate with international teams," Yuan said.

Audience rating surged when "Great Wall" and "Beijing Makeover," two of their productions, were shown on Discovery Asia and United States.

"When 'Beijing Makeover' about the 2008 Olympics was broadcast in Discovery Asia, the audience rating increased a lot and even doubled in some regions," said Zhang Fang, China country manager of Discovery Networks Asia.

Discovery started co-operating with CICC two years ago. They have co-produced five films about the man-made marvels in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Tibet.

And what has made the films popular wihtin Discovery's audience, in Zhang's opinion, is the audience-friendly view.

"China does have many good directors," he said, "but Western audiences have totally different cultural backgrounds. So with Discovery's understanding of the global audience and CICC's understanding of China, the films meet the audiences' tastes."

The 18 films shown this time are selected from all of the documentary films on China out of CICC'S cooperation with international companies over the past 10 years.

Categorized as "history and culture," "travel and experience" and "man-made marvels," the films tell colourful stories not only about China's traditions but also modern daily life.

"These films are more objective and comprehensive than those of its kind we have seen before," said Zhong Dafeng, a professor at Beijing Film Academy. "This way they can communicate more effectively with Western viewers."

After the tour show around China, which will end on November 30, the films will be shown at international documentary film festivals such as the RealScreen Summit in the United States, Hot Docs in Canada and MIP Doc in France. All of the films will be broadcast on Discovery, National Geography, PBS and BBC.

(China Daily November 25, 2006)