On February 21, good news came from the Publicity Department of Hubei Provincial Party Committee that the film “Tea Road” shot by Wuhan Cherry Media was listed in the 2023 Hubei Province Film Quality Creation and Production Guidance Catalogue as a key film cultivation support, which had been previously registered and publicly announced by the National Film Administration in June 2022. Cherry Media, an innovation and start up enterprise set up by the School of Literature, Journalism and Communication of SCMZU, was encouraged to make the film a fine masterpiece with profound thought, exquisite art and excellent production contributing pooling of resources and vigour.

Tea road is a trade channel between China, Mongolia, and Russia that rose in the 17th century, with tea, a carrier of Chinese history and culture, as the bulk of goods. General Secretary Xi Jinping imaginatively described it as the “century artery”. Together with the Silk Road, as well as the later Tea Horse Road and the Maritime Silk Road, it constituted an important channel for economic and cultural exchanges between the East and West in the past. In March 2014, the application of the Tea Road to the world cultural heritage has been launched, afterwards, in 2015 Hubei Province obtained the reputation of the leading province of its application, with Wuhan City as the leading city. In March 2019, the “Tea Road” was successfully included in the “China World Cultural Heritage Tentative List”.

In 2021, with the support of the Tea Road Inheritance Bid Office, SCMZU’s Asset Management Company Limited organized the "Tea Road Excellent Cultural and Creative Works Collection” thanks to the “Internet + Chinese Civilization” national demonstration base, among which “Tea Road” stood out as one of the winning story works. In October 2021, the script creation and the film copyright registration were completed. In the same year, it was nominated for the National Outstanding Ethnic Film Script Award in the 34th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival (Xiamen). In June 2022, the film was filed with the State Film Bureau for public announcement.

With the rise and fall of the Tea Road in the mid and late 19th century as a clue, the film tells the story of the tea merchants in Yangloudong, Chibi, Hubei Province, who promote exchanges among various ethnic groups with tea as the medium, reflecting the courage and determination of the pioneers during the development of the Tea Road.

SCMZU will gather resource and strength to support the School of Literature, Journalism and Communication to complete the film with high quality under the guidance of the Hubei Provincial Committee, together with relevant enterprises.

Edited by Liu Qiong  Reviewed by Wang Huaigang