Documenting a race against time

When the shrill of the emergency alarm cuts through the night, and stretchers race down fluorescent-lit corridors, every second inside the emergency room becomes a sprint against death.

The third season of Chinese Doctors, titled 24 Hours in A&E, recently premiered on China Media Group's CCTV-9 documentary channel and is streaming on major platforms, including Tencent Video, iQiyi, Youku, Bilibili, and Migu Video. The series has earned a 9.7 rating on Tencent Video, reflecting a strong audience response.

Jointly produced by Legend Media and Health News, the documentary moves beyond individual rescue stories to examine the healthcare system that makes them possible. Using emergency medicine as its lens, it traverses regions and institutions to present a cross-sectional portrait of how China's emergency medical network operates across levels and distances around the clock.

At the center of the project is chief director Zhang Jianzhen, a research fellow at the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She approaches the subject not only as a filmmaker, but as a long-term observer of the country's medical system.

"While filming, I witnessed the solid strength of China's emergency system," Zhang says. "At the same time, I confronted life's unpredictability: a 5-year-old child who suffered a high fall and could not be saved, and a 27-year-old mother in the terminal stage of cancer who passed away before our cameras."

These extremes — quiet systemic success and irretrievable loss — shaped her understanding of emergency medicine. "They are the ones who ignite hope amid uncertainty. The Hippocratic Oath and the duty to save lives have long been internalized as instinct. Through this film, I hope to call on society to offer these guardians of life greater understanding, trust, and tangible support."

For Zhang, medical documentaries must go beyond storytelling. "Hospitals are never short of stories. What matters more is demonstrating the support of the national healthcare system. It is this system that enables medical services to operate efficiently."

"There are already documentaries portraying the emotional lives of ordinary people in hospitals. By focusing on emergency care this season, I hope to show how national capacity safeguards people's lives and health through the operation of the medical system," she adds.

Even the title reflects this intent. "'24 Hours in A&E' is a defining feature of emergency medicine — it never stops. We structured the narrative around a 24-hour cycle to reflect the real conditions of different levels of medical institutions within China's emergency system."

Hospital selection followed a deliberate logic of full-spectrum representation. "I wanted full coverage, from community clinics and village health stations at the grassroots level to county and municipal hospitals, up to provincial hospitals and national medical centers, such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital."