China on the Tip of the Tongue won a full house, and this series, which pursues the tradition of China's food culture, won unanimous praise from audiences at home and abroad. Now, CCTV has made a sequel, but this time the response of China audience is not as enthusiastic as the previous one. In the second season, the producer of the play seems to be more concerned with pulling the heartstrings of the audience than the taste buds. The producers and consumers of food have become the protagonists, not the food itself, which is suspected of usurping the host's role.
China II on the Tip of the Tongue is broadcast on CCTV- 1 every Friday night, and you can also watch videos online. The content of the first episode shows all kinds of delicious food with China characteristics in detail, from honey shortening and stewed mudskippers to Leishan fish sauce, and then to Quanzhou radish rice rolls. But the real point is the story behind these foods.
In the first episode, a Tibetan youth went into the mountains to find raw materials in order to help his brother make ghee honey. In order to collect the needed honey, he spent four hours climbing a tree 40 meters high without using any safety equipment. The film says that ghee honey is one of the favorite foods of local families. The film also went to the south of Zhejiang Province to shoot, telling the story of a fisherman who spent two years studying how to catch jumping fish, which his daughter had been looking forward to for a long time. Jumping fish is a rare fish.
In Sichuan, a couple traveled all over the country to sell honey and used the money to pay for the education of their two sons. Another Miao couple returned home after working as migrant workers for a year. In order to make up for not being able to spend time with children, they carefully prepared Leishan fish sauce, which is made from dried small fish that are very difficult to catch. Another paragraph in the film tells about an overseas Chinese who returned to his hometown of Quanzhou, Fujian from the United States. The first thing he did when he got home was to invite his fellow villagers to taste a traditional Quanzhou cuisine-Quanzhou radish rice, which was made of radish, pork, fish and rice.
After the first episode was broadcast, many China viewers questioned CCTV, pointing out that China II on the Tip of the Tongue seems to have become a patriotic education program, rather than a pure food documentary. Many users on social media expressed disappointment with the second season. Some people think that the film tries to raise personal feelings to the political level, especially with the help of food to promote national harmony. Someone asked, what values are they trying to promote?
Others said that the film seems to be biased. A user in Weibo wrote that most of the film was filmed in border areas or related to ethnic minority dishes, but the food of the Han nationality was ignored. It may not be surprising to say that the film contains political propaganda elements in a subtle way. After all, the producer is China's official media CCTV. At the premiere of the second season earlier this month, Hu Zhanfan, the director of CCTV, used many words that are common in propaganda speeches.
Applying the word "Chinese Dream" often used by president, he preached that the Chinese dream in the tip of his tongue is the China people's pursuit of happiness, optimistic attitude towards life and simple feelings for harmony and nature behind food.
According to the official website of the film, the second season will also cover topics such as education, Foxconn and single-parent families. What is the relationship between these and food is still unknown.
What the audience praised is that it can remind people of their hometown and childhood.
A netizen in Weibo wrote that "China II on the Tip of the Tongue" made him want to say a lot, mainly because it reminded him of his parents and grandmother. He remembered that his father began to learn fishing when he was a child, and said that he had not been home for a long time, so he decided to go back in a few days.
Does this film mark a new form of political propaganda? Or is it just a series that caused a sensation and made people cry rather than drool? In any case, as the old saying goes: Food is the most important thing for the people. There will be a lot of people watching this documentary.
For an audience who lives far away in the United States, just thinking about all Chinese food is enough to make her homesick.
The audience wrote in Weibo that it is not necessary to glance at this film, and just reading the comments on the Internet is enough to make people like her who pretend to be high-end Leng Yan's internationalization expose their true patriotic feelings.