China to produce more TV documentaries for overseas market

A three-day TV documentary fair that opened Wednesday in south China has attracted buyers, producers, and directors with more than 3,000 documentaries from 85 countries and regions.

The 2014 China (Guangzhou) international TV documentary fair was listed by the State Council, or China's cabinet, as one of the key national projects exporting Chinese culture during 2013-14.

The annual event, first initiated by Guangzhou city government in 2003, has been upgraded as the only national fair for international TV documentaries.

The fair aims to become a platform in Asia trading international documentaries of the best quality, said Bai Jie, vice director of the fair's organizing committee.

China has pinned TV documentary as one of the most important strategies for introducing its culture to the outside world, said Gao Changli, publicity chief of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT).

The Chinese media regulator will give even stronger support to producing documentaries about the Chinese Dream and give full play to market mechanism in distribution, according to Gao.

China expects to produce quality documentaries with more investment for the overseas market, he said.

Documentary used to be served as an "appetizer" in movie theaters in China. The China Central Television (CCTV) unveiled a documentary channel on Jan. 1, 2011. One of the hottest broadcasts ever since is "A Bite of China", which tells stories about Chinese cuisines with human touch. The successful documentary has also changed Chinese people's stereotype about documentaries.