China's first documentary on overseas peacekeeping forces
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 21, 2020
"The Blue Defensive Line," the first documentary film about Chinese armed forces on an overseas peacekeeping mission, has been released to mark the 30th anniversary of China's participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Directed by Shang Changyi, Zhou Dexin and Liu Xin, it is the first film of its kind to record the soldiers' lives, struggles and sacrifices.
The film has hit the big screen across China since Sept. 18, the day when China's State Council Information Office released a white paper on participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations. The white paper is titled "China's Armed Forces: 30 Years of U.N. Peacekeeping Operations."
The documentary film features a Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion protecting local refugee camps in war-torn South Sudan.
It was shot over five years across China and Africa and presents a true, vivid account of the efforts made by Chinese "blue helmets" to safeguard world peace and development, depicting how they complete their missions and protect and interact with African locals.
When director Liu Xin received 350 hours of unreleased raw film materials shot and recorded by China's frontline military cameramen and soldiers, she recognized that they were extraordinary and significant. The unique and rare angle of these visual materials had never been seen before and touched her heart.
The filmmakers edited the footage and combined them with materials from news media. They then conducted interviews with several peacekeeping soldiers to narrate the true stories of the peacekeepers.
The work became emotionally painful when they found recordings of an armed conflict between government and opposition forces with heavy weapons, including tanks, large-caliber artillery and armed helicopters, in Juba in July 2016. The Chinese infantrymen risked their lives to build a defense line, preventing the militants from approaching the POC camp and ensuring the safety of over 9,000 civilians.
Corporal Li Lei and Sergeant Yang Shupeng sacrificed their lives in the action when a mortar shell hit their armored vehicle. They were posthumously conferred First Class Merit by the Chinese military and the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal by the U.N. The scenes of their deaths and how U.N. representatives, the Chinese government and people, and their fellow soldiers saluted and bid farewell to the two heroes have moved many audiences to tears.
"The peacekeeping missions show China is a responsible country in the world," said Lu Chengjun, a former officer of China's second batch of peacekeeping infantry battalion to South Sudan, at the premiere of the film held in Beijing.
He added that choosing to go to such a dangerous country in peacetime to accept the "test of life and death" in a "baptism of blood and fire" shows the spirit of Chinese soldiers. "It demonstrates that the young officers and soldiers born in the 1980s and 1990s are reliable. When the country needs them, they are not afraid of sacrifice," he said.
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of China's participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations. Over the three decades, the country's armed forces have sent over 40,000 service members to 25 U.N. peacekeeping missions. Sixteen Chinese military peacekeepers have sacrificed their lives for the noble cause of peace. On Oct. 1, 2019, Chinese military peacekeepers were reviewed for the first time by the country and the people in the parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
China is the second-largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and U.N. membership fees and the largest troop-contributing country among the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
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