Documentary tells stories of ordinary people as they seek out their place in modern Chinese society, Wang Ru reports.

A scene from the documentary Going With the Flow shows gold traders Sun Wei (right) and Wang Ruchao busy at work. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Students had mixed feelings upon receiving letters written by themselves seven years earlier. Many of them had forgotten the letter, some laughed while reading the letter with family members, some cried without revealing the content of their letter to anyone, and one lucky recipient found a "business startup fund" he had left to himself in the envelope, albeit a very modest 1 yuan ($0.15) note.

In 2013, China Post in Changde city, Central China's Hunan province, organized an activity in which it asked 13,000 local middle school students to write a letter to their future selves. In 2020, the letters were sent back to them and their reactions were recorded as part of Going With the Flow, a four-episode documentary produced by Shanghai Media Group. It premiered on Dragon TV and streaming site Tencent Video on Sept 7.

I realize that everyone has untold stories, and they can be as compelling to people as the latest celebrity gossip

Fan Shiguang, general director of the documentary Going With the Flow

According to Fan Shiguang, general director of the production,"President Xi Jinping said, 'China, as a country of people on the move, is energetically pursuing prosperity', in his New Year speech in 2019. That made us consider what the movement is, what the source of vitality is, and whether we could portray ordinary Chinese people from this perspective."

With that in mind, producers try to show ordinary Chinese people whose stories "depict their struggle with destiny", and reflect hot-button issues in modern society, according to Fan.

For example, there is the story of Ding Daqin, a girl who learns to cook crayfish at a vocational school in Qianjiang city, Hubei province. As a village child who was brought up by her grandparents, Ding misses her parents who are working in Shanghai, and tries to prepare herself for a job in the city so that she can reunite with them.

Since cooking crayfish requires a lot of physical strength, which usually gives boys an advantage, Ding believes that employers prefer to hire male cooks, and, as such, she has to exceed the performance of her male counterparts to make herself stand out among potential employees. Therefore, she works extremely hard and tries to achieve the highest marks in every class she takes.

"We see Ding's eagerness and effort to change her destiny. The pursuit of her dream shows the energy of modern Chinese people. Moreover, we can understand some social issues from her story, like the plight of children left behind by their parents and China's promotion of vocational education," says Fan.

A still image of the documentary shows deliveryman Xu Xiaochao studying English at a Starbucks store in Shanghai. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

After filming about 30 stories, crew members chose 12 of them to feature in the four episodes, respectively themed "hometown", "coordinates", "answer sheet" and "chasing a dream".

In the second episode, the show highlights people who are trying to find their place in modern society.

"In a fast-changing society on the move, you need to find coordinates in your heart, so that you will not get lost mentally," says Fan.

It tells the story of Xu Xiaochao, a deliveryman in Shanghai, who often works hard trying to learn English at a Starbucks in his spare time, attempting to use it in his daily work. "There are several hundred thousand delivery people in the city, and you can hardly distinguish one from another. Similarly, many people's daily routine becomes dull and repetitive. Gradually they begin to feel that their life and work are meaningless. The delivery man, by learning English in his spare time, is trying to establish a place in his heart where he can make his life meaningful for himself," says Fan.

"Everyone is created to be unique, and that is an important awareness each of us should have. But in our daily, busy lives, many people fall into a routine and forget it. That is the reason we need to find our inner bearings. No matter how the environment changes, we need to stay true to those bearings so that we can always find our true selves," he adds.

Ren Yi directed the third episode called "answer sheet", which concentrates on people's relationship with the times.

"We benefit from the times, and in turn, the times ask us some questions. People in this episode hand in their answer sheets. Their answers may not be model answers, but are their personal answers, or may be the answers of a group of people they represent," says Ren.

Ding Daqin (right), a girl from Hubei province, is featured taking an exam on cooking. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

She is impressed by the story of two gold traders with the Bank of China in Shanghai, who work at night to buy and sell gold in the hope of increasing the market activity of the Shanghai Gold Exchange and attract global capital.

"Some young people still feel confused about what they should do, but the two traders in the episode are very clear about what they are trying to achieve, and they feel honored to shoulder the responsibility. They are not afraid that a simple click can lead to the exchange of a large amount of money－may be enough to buy a house－and they remain stable, reliable and modest," says Ren.

"In some way, that is how they hand in their answers and repay the times, and that is a typical example of modern young Chinese people," she adds.

Besides the specific stories of individuals, crew members also interviewed a further 100 people they randomly found, asked them questions about their thoughts on life, and put short interviews together that feature throughout the documentary.

"When we discussed certain issues, the three specific stories in each episode sometimes seemed not to be enough. We wanted people to express their ideas on the topics at hand, so that we could expand upon them and cover them in a thorough way."

Filming started in 2019, and the crew traveled to many places in China in just half a year, but work was suspended due to the outbreak of COVID-19. They resumed filming this year, which lasted about two months. The production is set to be broadcast overseas as well, according to Fan.

"It's very difficult to make a documentary about ordinary people, since their stories don't often have a great deal of drama, and they don't have the popularity of celebrities. But, after getting to know the many touching details in people's lives, I realize that everyone has untold stories, and they can be as compelling to people as the latest celebrity gossip," says Fan.

Contact the writer at wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn