Society

Teleplay on city before May 12 quake to be broadcast

By Huang Zhiling and Ji Jin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-18 10:28

A 26-episode teleplay featuring Mianyang, Sichuan Province, before it was devastated in the May 12 earthquake in 2008, will soon be broadcast in Shandong, Hebei, Henan and Liaoning provinces which have contributed to the city's post-quake reconstruction.

"Sustenance," which is based on the work of Wu Yinyi, a writer in Mianyang, is about how farmers in Beichuan County, Jiangyou City, Anxian County, Pingwu County and Peicheng District, all of which are under the administration of Mianyang, strived to beat poverty and become better off before the magnitude-8.0 quake which killed nearly 90,000 people.

Many sites depicted in the series, such as the county seat of Beichuan, the Tea Mountain in Leigu Town in Beichuan, Qiang houses and the Tangjiashan Suspension Bridge, are no longer existent after the quake.

Some 60 local farmers who participated in the shooting of the teleplay perished in the quake, said Jing Jun, producer of the teleplay.

The teleplay has kept the valuable images of both the farmer actors and actresses as well as the sties destroyed in the quake, said Zhu Danfeng, deputy chief of the Publicity Department of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee.

According to Jing, the teleplay passed the censors in 2008. But the premiere was postponed till recently because of the worry about the reminiscence of the devastating quake from the audience.

Airing the teleplay now is meant to memorize the quake dead, salute the strenuous people in Mianyang and appreciate people from outside Sichuan who have contributed to Mianyang's post-quake reconstruction, Jing said.