CCTV presenter Zhu Jun will produce and host the new program Xinzhongguo that brings audiences on trips through history by narrating and describing the historical backgrounds of more than 50 letters.
Sixty-six years ago, Huang Jiguang wrote his last letter to his mother before he sacrificed himself in the battle of Shangganling, also known as the Battle of Triangle Hill, during the Korean War.
"If I don't make a contribution, I won't leave the battlefield. Your son Jiguang, in battle," narrates actor Yang Yang with tears in his eyes to the audience during a television recording.
After Yang finishes reading the passage, host Zhu Jun tells the story behind Huang's letter while acknowledging that Yang was deeply touched by the letter.
This is the first episode of the new cultural show, Xinzhongguo (Trust in China), where narrators read letters and the host describes the historical backgrounds of the letters and authors using photos, videos and stage effects.
The show will air on the first weekend of 2018 on CCTV 1 and CCTV 3. As China Central Television's flagship program for the year, "the show has a powerful and profound theme", says Zhu Tong, CCTV's deputy editor-in-chief.
Zhu, who holds the record for hosting the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for 21 consecutive years, is also the producer of the show. It's his first time in this role.
"Even though I have hosted the Spring Festival Gala for 21 years and Artistic Life for 17 years, I always tell myself that I'm still young and I need to make a change," says Zhu, 54.
As the show's producer, he has to manage a team of 200, and control each aspect of the program, from seeking social support to inviting actors to be narrators.
Television programs about reading, such as Readers and Letters Alive, started to gain attention in China last year. In Zhu's mind, his new show is about focusing on the historical backgrounds of the stories behind the letters.
"As awareness about culture has seen a resurgence and cultural content is being improved, there is a need for new cultural shows. Letters are a good way to explore this," says Zhu.
"There are not too many cultural programs, in fact, not enough."
Xinzhongguo took four months to shoot after eight months of planning. For the first time, the program gathered more than 60 Chinese actors to present letters from members of the Chinese Communist Party, which were selected from more than 2,000 letters.
"Xin means 'letter' in Chinese, and it can also mean faith, trust, belief and cultural confidence," Zhu explains.
It's also the first time a full 3-D projection stage has been used to show more than 3,000 video clips used in the series.
The narrators include veteran actors Tang Guoqiang and Li Youbin, and a younger generation of actors like Zhang Yixing and Guan Xiaotong.
"When we select the actors to read the letters, it's like an audition for the letter. We want the narrators to take our audience on a trip through history," Zhu says.
"That's why Yang Yang is the narrator for Huang Jiguang's letter－they are both in their 20s and Yang has military experience."
Zhang Shaohua, an 82-year-old actress, who reads the letter from Huang's mother together with Yang, is the oldest narrator.
Recovering from recent surgery, the actress who uses a wheelchair, reads from her own handwritten script transcribed in a larger format with the key points annotated in red.
"All the narrators take the preparation for reading these letters very seriously," Zhu says.