Survivor: China, the fifteenth season of the Emmy
Award-winning reality television series Survivor, will
premiere on September 20 on the CBS Television Network.
Survivor: China will mark the first time a major American
television program will film an entire season in China.
"This fall, Survivor leaves the tropical islands for
something completely different ... China, where the modern world
meshes with 5,000 years of colorful history," Probst, the host,
teased in the preview. "The adventure will play out in the
shadows of a sacred mountain on the shores of a remote lake in a
land known for tigers, giant pandas, snow leopards and ancient
tradition."
Filming began in June and finished in early August. The
production required more than 400 crew members from the start to
its current post-production.
Survivor: China began filming at Zhelin Lake in the
Jiangxi Province in late June. The lake is a man-made reservoir
formed by Asia's largest earth dam. This major event was preceded
by Mission Impossible III and The Painted
Veil shootings in China.
The producer hopes that people will have heightened expectations
for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after watching this season's show.
Local people hope that the TV premiere will improve tourism around
Zhelin Lake.
Survivor: China will feature a cast of 16 Americans.
They'll begin the series amid the bustle of downtown Shanghai
before moving to Huangpu Mountain's Mi Tuo Temple. During a
Buddhist ceremony in the temple they will be instructed to leave
all of their worldly possessions behind.
The castaways will then be marooned with the clothes on their
backs on two separate islands around Zhelin Lake. They will split
into two tribes, Fei Long (Flying Dragon) and Zhan
Hu (Fighting Tiger). Each team will receive a copy of Sun
Tzu's The Art of War for use in group motivation and strategic
planning throughout the game.
CCTV, China Central Television, screened the first three seasons
of Survivor. The three series: Survivor: Borneo,
Survivor: The Australian Outback and Survivor:
Africa, were reviewed in their Earth Story column in
2001 and received enthusiastic audience response. CCTV has no
current plans to introduce this season's Survivor into
China.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin August 23, 2007)
