Route Awakening (Mandarin: 《寰行中国》 Huanxing Zhongguo) is a National Geographic television documentary series presented by Harry Yuan and

Jonathan Clements Jonathan Michael Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shi Huang, as well as monthly opinion columns for ''Neo'' magazine. He is also the co-aut ...

. It comprises 30 half-hour films across five seasons, with each season concentrating on a different approach to Chinese history and culture. Each episode exists in two versions, a Mandarin-language broadcast shown in the Chinese-speaking world, and an English-language version shown in other countries. The programs were filmed entirely on location, with no studio work, using a roving film crew with a camera and drone. The presenters had radically different styles, with Yuan favoring an action-oriented approach as opposed to Clements's emphasis on anthropology. Both presenters, however, were "hands-on" participants in the rituals and events they witnessed, volunteering for wrestling matches, mountaineering, and odd foods. Since the entire series was sponsored by the

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

automobile company, Buick vehicles feature prominently in every episode, and several sequences appear to test the limits of the cars' off-road capabilities.

Series 1

The first season in 2015 sent explorer and photographer Harry Yuan on a journey that encompassed China's two greatest water-courses, the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flow ...

and the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan ...

. His trip started in Shanghai but took him far into the Chinese hinterland, with sequences shot out in the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast ...

Series 2

For the second season of Route Awakening, broadcast in 2016, historian Jonathan Clements pursued a set of enduring cultural icons: Tea, Alcohol, Cloth, Grains, Theater and Pottery. Filming took place all over China, including the ethnic minority regions of Yunnan and the coasts of Fujian.

Series 3

In the third season, broadcast in 2017, Clements concentrated on five tribes from Chinese ethnic minorities: the Kam,

Lisu Lisu may refer to: *Lisu people, an ethnic group of Southeast Asia *Lisu language, spoken by the Lisu people * Old Lisu Alphabet or Fraser Alphabet *Lisu syllabary *Lisu (Unicode block), the block of Unicode characters for the Lisu language. * Lisu ...

Gorlos Mongols The Gorlos ( Khalkha-Mongolian:Горлос/Gorlos; ) are a Southern Mongol subgroup in Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County, China. See also * Gorlos (redirect page) * Demographics of China * List of medieval Mongolian tribes and clans T ...

, Naxi and Miao, with the Kam spanning two episodes. The emphasis was on the circle of life in village culture, the rituals associated with harvest, courting, and funerals.

Series 4

In the fourth season, broadcast in 2018, Yuan investigated the role of bridges in China's history, covering everything from the "wind-and-rain" sheltered bridges of

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

, to the most modern, high-tech spans under construction.

Series 5

In the fifth season, broadcast in 2019, Clements explored some of China's newest museums, showcasing the histories of the

Dian Kingdom Dian () was an ancient kingdom established by the Dian people, a non-Han Chinese metalworking civilization that inhabited around the Dian Lake plateau of central northern Yunnan, China from the late Spring and Autumn period until the Eastern Han ...

of Yunnan, the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally suc ...

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had ...

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

's history as a Chinese capital, the lost state of

Yelang Yelang, also Zangke, was an ancient political entity first described in the 3rd century BC in what is now western Guizhou province, China. It was active for over 200 years. The state is known to modern Chinese from the idiom, "Yelang thinks too ...

, and the golden treasures of the

Marquis of Haihun Liu He (; 92–59 BC) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty with the era name Yuanping (). Originally King (or Prince) of Changyi (), he was installed by the powerful minister Huo Guang as emperor in 74 BC, but deposed only 27 days later, and ...

Reception

The first season of Route Awakening won several awards: a Silver World Medal for Best Editing at the New York Film Festival, a Gold Remi in the Culture/History category at the Houston Worldfest, and an Asian Television Award for Best Infotainment. The second season was nominated for an Asia Rainbow TV Award for Best TV Documentary, winning a Gold Remi for Best Information Series at the Houston International Film Festival and a Bronze World Medal at the New York Film Festival for Documentary: Cultural Issues.

References

{{Reflist National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming