A painter's encounter with a wolf cub

Li Weiyi and her documentary's producer Yi Feng at the film's premiere ceremony in Beijing. Photos provided to China Daily

Li Weiyi, who returns a young wolf to nature in southwestern China's vast grasslands, will see her story hit the big screens on Friday.

Return to the Wolves, a documentary about Li and her wolf cub, recently toured 17 Chinese cities for test screenings, and will be released in mainland theaters on Friday.

As a freelance painter based in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, Li was in the picturesque Zoige grassland in the northwestern province in April 2010.

There, she heard a story about a wolf family from the locals.

The male wolf bit off his own claw to flee from a trap but was killed by some herdsmen, and the female deliberately ate a poisoned bait to kill herself, leaving behind six cubs, born merely a couple of weeks earlier.

Li discovered the only surviving cub, bringing him back to Chengdu and naming him Green.

But city life was not suitable for the cub, and Green also yearned for more space and freedom.

Li released him into the wild, returning him to the Zoige grassland in February 2011.

She wrote a book about the cub titled Return to the Wolf Pack, and the initial print run of 200,000 copies sold out in three months after its launch in July 2012.