Documentary to record Wenchuan quake stories

    Chinese website Sina reports that a kickoff ceremony was held in Beijing at 14:28 p.m. on Wednesday.

Vice editor in chief of China Central Television Zhang Huashan attends the kickoff ceremony for a documentary about the May 12 earthquake in Beijing on Wednesday, May 28, 2008.

    More than one hundred Chinese entertainers have expressed their willingness to join the documentary without pay.

    Hong Kong television comedian Dicky Cheung said, "We are not afraid of danger and hardship during the shooting process because we are Chinese!"

    The report says some staff members rushed to the quake-hit areas as early as on May 13 to record the touching screens there.

Head of the TV drama department at the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV Li Jingsheng attends the kickoff ceremony for a documentary about the May 12 earthquake in Beijing on Wednesday, May 28, 2008.

    Sixteen screenwriters urgently worked days and nights and only used five days to complete the script.

　

Chinese crosstalk artist Jiang Kun (L) and China Central Television host Dong Qing chair the kickoff ceremony for a documentary about the May 12 earthquake in Beijing on Wednesday, May 28, 2008.

　On May 23, Jiang Xiaomei, executive producer of the documentary, arrived in Sichuan to prepare for the formal kickoff.

    The documentary, with five directors, will finish shooting in twenty days. This is the first time that such a powerful work will be completed in such a short period of time in China's television history.