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Review: Aerial China Season 2 (航拍中國 第二季) (2019)
This season was just as good as last season. It covered completely different provinces from season 1, which was nice.
If you enjoyed season 1, then you should check out season 2. I suspect the same will be similar for season 3 as well, but I will have to wait to confirm.
Format
The format is largely the same as last season. Each episode focused on one province, but switched between location to location without huge fanfare (i.e. super fast transitions).
Production
The shots were just as beautiful. They ranged from really epic shots of landscapes (mountains, deserts, etc.) to overhead shots of people participating in normal activities like eating and shopping and playing.
There was one episode in which we were shown some drone footage from a drone/technology event in Shenzhen. Of course, it was pretty shaky, because it was just meant to be a fun activity for passers-by. But it really emphasized how smooth the drone footage was in this show.
Episodes
I would categorize the types of shots into: landscapes, animals, industrial, towns, and urban areas.
China is a huge country and it amazes me how there is never a shortage of beautiful landscapes, from mountains to rivers.
Several of the natural landscapes that were presented in the show had associations with Chinese mythology and literature. For example, in the episode in Jiangsu, we briefly visited Mount Huaguo, the birthplcae of the Monkey King Sun Wukong in Journey to the West. The narrator said that the author of Journey to the West, Wu Cheng'en, lived not 100 km from Mount Huaguo. I just thought about how in the olden days, artists would see these amazing landscapes and draw inspiration from them. Knowing that just made these landscapes and places feel that much mroe wondrous.
I think there were fewer animal shots in this season (or maybe there just weren't that much in general in both seasons). But several of them came from the episodes in the northern provinces, particularly in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, where there is a grazing and nomadic lifestyle.
I would describe industrial shots and those areas such as wind turbine farms, shipping docks, etc. They're just places that provide energy and supplies. The shipping docks aren't so interesting, but sometimes we see farms or fisheries that look very impressive from above.
I love the shots of towns. A lot of them have old architecutre, and it adds that small town Chinese charm to them.
We don't have a lot of the epic architecture of old Chinese history, as much of that was destroyed in war and conflict. So these towns are the closest that we have to getting a taste of what life was like in the old days.
The urban shots are honestly the least impressive, mostly because they're mostly made up of high rises which...are not unique to China lol. But I still appreciate that the show adds them in, probably to tell us how the big cities in the provinces are like now, and how people live.
Overall
I made an effort to not be so distracted when watching some episodes. I was half-successful lol. In any case, I still think this is an amazing series. I would continue to recommend it for all of those who are interested in Chinese culture. The fast pace of the show makes it extremely accessible, but I think there may not be subtitles for it, which may be a problem for some people.
If you enjoyed season 1, then you should check out season 2. I suspect the same will be similar for season 3 as well, but I will have to wait to confirm.
Format
The format is largely the same as last season. Each episode focused on one province, but switched between location to location without huge fanfare (i.e. super fast transitions).
Production
The shots were just as beautiful. They ranged from really epic shots of landscapes (mountains, deserts, etc.) to overhead shots of people participating in normal activities like eating and shopping and playing.
There was one episode in which we were shown some drone footage from a drone/technology event in Shenzhen. Of course, it was pretty shaky, because it was just meant to be a fun activity for passers-by. But it really emphasized how smooth the drone footage was in this show.
Episodes
I would categorize the types of shots into: landscapes, animals, industrial, towns, and urban areas.
China is a huge country and it amazes me how there is never a shortage of beautiful landscapes, from mountains to rivers.
Several of the natural landscapes that were presented in the show had associations with Chinese mythology and literature. For example, in the episode in Jiangsu, we briefly visited Mount Huaguo, the birthplcae of the Monkey King Sun Wukong in Journey to the West. The narrator said that the author of Journey to the West, Wu Cheng'en, lived not 100 km from Mount Huaguo. I just thought about how in the olden days, artists would see these amazing landscapes and draw inspiration from them. Knowing that just made these landscapes and places feel that much mroe wondrous.
I think there were fewer animal shots in this season (or maybe there just weren't that much in general in both seasons). But several of them came from the episodes in the northern provinces, particularly in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, where there is a grazing and nomadic lifestyle.
I would describe industrial shots and those areas such as wind turbine farms, shipping docks, etc. They're just places that provide energy and supplies. The shipping docks aren't so interesting, but sometimes we see farms or fisheries that look very impressive from above.
I love the shots of towns. A lot of them have old architecutre, and it adds that small town Chinese charm to them.
We don't have a lot of the epic architecture of old Chinese history, as much of that was destroyed in war and conflict. So these towns are the closest that we have to getting a taste of what life was like in the old days.
The urban shots are honestly the least impressive, mostly because they're mostly made up of high rises which...are not unique to China lol. But I still appreciate that the show adds them in, probably to tell us how the big cities in the provinces are like now, and how people live.
Overall
I made an effort to not be so distracted when watching some episodes. I was half-successful lol. In any case, I still think this is an amazing series. I would continue to recommend it for all of those who are interested in Chinese culture. The fast pace of the show makes it extremely accessible, but I think there may not be subtitles for it, which may be a problem for some people.