Filmmaker documents danger of assignments
If there is one film director who knows more about Chinese peacekeepers than anyone else, it’s Shang Changyi, a military documentary director from the August First Film Studio of the People’s Liberation Army.
Since 2003, when China sent its first troops to Africa, Shang has filmed seven of the nine peacekeeping missions in which Chinese peacekeepers have served, including in Lebanon, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Darfur region in Sudan.
On many occasions, such as when Shang walked through minefields in Lebanon or had guns pointed at him in Darfur, the only equipment in his hands was his camera.
“I am a documentary director and member of the military. I believe my place is on the battlefield,” said Shang, 48, who joined the army when he was 18.
“Peacekeeping is a special mission for the PLA. It’s my responsibility to record these missions because it is important for the army’s history.”
To record the Chinese blue helmets, Shang has traveled 300,000 km, spent 15 months living with Chinese troops abroad and filmed more than 500 hours.
He has finished six documentaries about Chinese peacekeeping missions, two of which won awards at the Italian “Military and People” International Military Film Festival in 2005 and 2011.
Last year, Shang finished a 20-part documentary series called China Peacekeeping Action.
“As far as I know, no one in the world has filmed UN peacekeeping missions longer than I have,” he said.
Unlike the stereotype of a Chinese artist with long hair and a beard, Shang is a clean-cut military man, with a tidy appearance and a look of persistence and confidence in his eyes.
“I know the job was dangerous, and we’ve been in danger many times while filming. But we are Chinese soldiers, and we never thought about giving up. If we stopped filming because of the dangerous situations we faced, we would see ourselves as deserters,” he said.
Shang’s toughest time was in the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur, the world’s largest and most challenging peacekeeping mission.
Shang and his crew arrived in Darfur in March 2010, right after Sudan’s general election, when violence erupted. In the previous two years, 55 UN peacekeepers had been killed there.
“The day before and after our arrival in Darfur, both UN peacekeepers and international reporters were attacked or kidnapped by local armed forces. During the time we stayed there, which was for more than 20 days, the gunfire never stopped,” Shang said.
He followed PLA engineering troops during their Darfur peacekeeping mission. One of the Chinese peacekeepers’ jobs was to drill wells to ease local water shortages. But the situation was very intense, and people were likely to get killed by unknown snipers on the streets, he said.
One day, when the documentary team was ready to film the Chinese drilling crew and the Tanzanian UN peacekeepers guarding the crew, three pickup trucks drove at high speed into the drilling area. The newcomers were members of one of the local armed gangs.
“When the Darfur commander realized that I was the officer with the highest rank at the time, he asked to take a photo with me. I tried to keep smiling, but I was seriously concerned about what would happen to us,” Shang said.
The local gang told peacekeepers that the region was under their control and they were capable of doing the drilling themselves. If the blue helmets would not withdraw, they could not guarantee the UN troops’ safety, they said.
This kind of threat was common during the Darfur mission, Shang said.
“When PLA engineers were operating on the drilling platforms, they were not sure how many guns were trained on them, but they clearly knew that they were in danger,” he added.
By sharing hardships and risking his life with many Chinese peacekeepers, Shang said he made many good friends with troops while abroad. He also cherishes his peaceful life at home more than before.
When he heard that the PLA was planning to send troops to join the UN peacekeepers in Mali, the seasoned director started thinking about his next documentary.
“From my work, I hope more audiences will get to learn about the work of Chinese peacekeepers and understand how the PLA guards have brought the world peace,” he said.