The newest history program of CCTV, which was released this month, became an immediate hit as it is a documentary, drama and variety show all in one and speaks about protecting cultural heritage and legacies.
The docu-drama "National Treasure" is the first of its kind to use a mixed approach and comprises 10 episodes that airs every Sunday on CCTV's Channel 3.
Each episode would feature three artifacts which would be presented by a celebrity and an expert who would be speaking about the stories of the work and the mysteries surrounding them.
According to its producer and director Yu Lei, "The show presents the treasures through different artistic methods, and tries to make sense of the stories and history behind each relic, so that audiences can not only come to appreciate their beauty, but also their cultural significance."
At least nine of the country's major museums are involved in the program, including Beijing's Palace Museum.
When selecting the treasures that would be introduced in the program, Yu said the show tries to take into account "historical, artistic and scientific values." He adds, "The pieces features on the show may not all be the so-called iconic pieces in these museums, but they should represent some historic periods and reflect an important point in history. What's more, they should have stories behind them which engage the audience."
In the first episode of the program, Tony Leung, Wang Kai and Li Chen were the national treasure keepers of the artifacts.
Yu hopes that these artists would be able to help them reach out to more people and get them involved.
"Our show is not only for an audience interested in cultural relics and history, we want to reach more people, so we invited celebrities to explore with the audience. Just like the audience, these celebrities don't know much about the national treasures either. So they can see them from the audience's perspective, and as they set out to explore these treasures, the audience will follow them on a journey."
