Promo video of Wuhan's East Lake makes stunning appearance

WUHAN, China, Nov. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The promo video of the central Chinese city of Wuhan featuring its East Lake was unveiled at China International Friendship Cities Conference in November. Popular short video platforms and accounts in China, including the Yangtze River Daily, Xinpianchang, Hubei TV and Wuhan Broadcasting and Television, went viral for it. The cumulative play counts have reached 100,000 as of noontime on Nov. 16. More than 1,000 viewers posted their comments.

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The creation team of the video includes Li Sheng, a senior writer and director who was also the writer for the promo video of Wuhan. Li, 74, had been touring the East Lake for inspiration every week since April. After half a year of working and polishing, he finalized the 1,768-character article for the video. Classical Chinese expert Shu Bangxin said the writings for both the East Lake and the city of Wuhan are classic, with the former being even better. Li wrote with all the love he has for the city. Deng Siming, a history expert, also spoke highly of Li's writing.

Zhang Wen, granddaughter of Zhou Cangbai who built the East Lake Park and daughter of China's famed soprano Zhou Xiaoyan, sent her congratulations in the early hours of Nov. 16 to Li, saying "It's so beautiful!" three times. She said Li's words were so touching and hearty and made her proud. When she revisited the lake in April, she could barely recognize the lake park. "The promo video is a better way of story-telling to let more people know the East Lake and Wuhan at large."

Photographer Guo Dagong, also nephew of Zhou Xiaoyan, said the words and pictures complemented each other that "fill viewers with boundless imagination".

"It never occurred to me that Wuhan has such a beautiful lake just in the city, reminding me of the movie Avatar," said a viewer. "Many shots were new to me even though I've been living here for so many years. How did they get all those brand new perspectives?" another viewer said.

Huke Image is the shooting and production team of the video. Its members were born in the 1980s and 1990s, most of whom had overseas study and shooting experiences. Song Xiaohu, the director and videographer, was once invited to shoot promo videos for Russia, Romania, Malaysia and Indonesia. He said his team of over 60 members immersed themselves in the environment of the East Lake for nearly a year. They applied cinema-level equipment worth over a million, hired voice actors that work for BBC, and produced an English version for the convenience of overseas broadcasting.

"Many valuable scenes are rarely seen, as they were shot under special circumstances of weather and timing. The shooting crew often had to wait in the early hours in the morning or late after the dusk. Some moments of special visual effects only existed for a couple of minutes. For example, cloud shadows can only be captured when the air is crystal clear, and shrouding mist has to be captured patiently after the sunset," he explained.

According to the management committee of the East Lake, the Wuhan promo video concentrated the city's 3,500-year-old history into 1,500 characters through the lens of everyday changes, while the promo video of the East Lake is the "green heart" of Wuhan that reflects the harmony of human and nature, city and lake. Thanks to the "green heart", Wuhan shines even brighter as a city of bridges, a city of forests, a city of universities. Before the hosting of 2019 Military World Games, Wuhan's image has once again surprised the world.