A poster for The Chinese Doctor, a documentary that has resonated with internet users amid the COVID-19 outbreak Photo: FILE

The Chinese Doctor, a nine-episode medical documentary series, hit the internet promptly as groups of health care workers rushed to Wuhan, the city hardest-hit by COVID-19. It has helped deepen the public’s understanding of medical work and bring people greater hope in the epidemic.

The Chinese Doctor is the first large-scale documentary series in China to zoom in on medical workers. In the episodes, stories between doctors and patients are brimming with warmness, sense of responsibility and hope, depicting real doctors and their working life at a close range. A feature that distinguishes it from other documentaries is its refusal to exaggerate patients’ miseries or impose a sensational plot. Instead it focuses on the medical career of healing wounds and saving lives. The approach to recording shows immense restraint, calmness and rationality.

The documentary tries to show how the doctors are not almighty angels, and that they may fall powerless in the face of many diseases. The common enemy of doctors and patients is the disease. Only by bonds of trust and a combination of efforts can they form the greatest outpouring of strength in the treatment process. Only when patients have an adequate understanding of doctors can it be possible to reduce the conflict between doctors and patients and establish a rational and healthy doctor-patient relationship.

The film crew selected six of the country’s best hospitals and focused on healthcare workers with various roles and medical backgrounds, including both well-known professors with superb medical skills and young residents who had just graduated. Over two years, they tracked and filmed the doctors 24/7 to reflect the details of their daily lives.

The documentary was scheduled to meet audiences in mid-February, but it premiered on iQiyi, a major online video platform in China, on Jan. 29 as China entered a critical juncture because of the virus outbreak. People needed high-quality content to enhance cohesion and gain confidence to ward off illness. After the release, the documentary was well received by society and became the most popular one of its kind in iQiyi’s history. It topped the video platform’s documentary ranking and scored 9.3 points out of 10 on Douban.com, an influential Chinese social networking website where users to rate films, books and music.

The launch of the documentary became popular on We-Media and caused widespread discussions. Subsequently, major media groups also followed up with reports. Short videos produced from its clips have received praise from internet users. Of the short videos, one sentence said by Dr. Zhu Liangfu is frequently cited: “I dare not die. My death will mean a waste of national resources.”

The documentary has received academic support from the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and it serves as an achievement of the institute’s project “Internet Governance and Constructive Journalism.” Constructive journalism is a new concept of news reporting proposed in the context of new media in recent years. Backed by the results of positive psychology research, constructive journalism stresses that it is necessary to render solutions in its reporting of social problems and thereby give the audience positive expectations and hope.