Natural popularity

Zhang's work was named as the science documentary of the year at the Gezhi Science Gala in January. The event was jointly hosted by the popular streaming platform Bilibili and the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The gala recognized excellent popular science works on Bilibili.

The Metog documentary seeks to bring the public closer to the region's rare geological and ecological conditions, and enables audiences to discover how such a dense and humid forest can grow and thrive in Xizang's otherwise relatively arid conditions.

Many species are so unique and difficult for people to encounter but can be engaged through the documentary, which took Zhang and his team more than six months to finish.

He considers a documentary to be a piece of writing that costs much more money and labor.

"You just have to make it appealing and flawless," he says.

Everything was executed as planned, including the scripts, because once in the wilderness, the long trek, high altitude and extreme weather could easily leave him with little energy to improvise.