More Chinese youth are getting involved in a genealogy project that aims to record and preserve family histories, China Daily reported.
Organized by a nonprofit called the Beijing Yongyuan Foundation, the annual project engages college students to compile videos of family histories being told orally and to present the final output as a short documentary. A professional panel then judges the entries.
The best documentaries are awarded prices at a function. This year, the awarding ceremony was held last Sunday, April 10. Wang Xintong, a student from Nanjing University, emerged as one of the winners.
Wang's documentary featured the elderly alumni of his university, all of whom experienced the trials of the Second World War.
"The physical remains of National Central University (the predecessor of today's Nanjing University) in Chongqing don't exist anymore," Wang said. "But my interviews record the students' resilience back then amid the Japanese occupation."
The foundation, founded in 2014 by former TV anchor Cui Yongyuan, highly encourages more Chinese youth to join the project.
"Oral history can complement history books that often neglect people's habits or anecdotes. It can even correct wrong records and overcome stereotypes," said Cui.
The project has proven to be helpful especially among the youth who want to reconnect with their family's genealogy and history.
"I interviewed my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my father to trace our family history," shared Pan Chao, a student from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, in an interview with China Daily.
"While they are my closest relatives," said Pan, "I began to understand them better once I saw them narrating their stories in front of the camera."
Through the project, Pan was able to know his family more through the stories shared to him by the older members of the family.
"I will show the video to my children and tell them where we came from, if they aren't able to see my hometown in the mountains firsthand," Pan added.
Last year, the genealogy project featured 147 short documentaries from 100 colleges all over the country, said Xiang Xiaojing, who works for the nonprofit. The films features a wide range of themes, including war veterans and folklore from the countryside.