Film marks 95th anniversary of Peking Man's discovery

Marking the 95th anniversary of the discovery of the first skull of Peking Man, a film co-produced by China and France was unveiled at the Zhoukoudian Site Museum in Beijing last week.

The release of the film, titled “Peking Man, The Last Secrets of Humankind,” is to commemorate the discovery of Peking Man, the homo erectus that lived in the suburbs of today’s capital of China about 700,000 years ago, according to the museum.

A poster of “Peking Man, The Last Secrets of Humankind.”File photo

Co-produced by the China Media Group and the France Télévisions, among others, the film documents the historical narrative of ancient human evolution in East Asia. Scripted by French paleoanthropologist Yves Coppens, the film was directed by Jacques Malaterre, and shot by Guo Daming.

The documentary film will be broadcast simultaneously in major cinemas worldwide, on France’s national channel, and on CCTV’s documentary channel.

“This film narrates the life journey of our ancestors spanning over a million years,” said Malaterre during the press conference, highlighting the close collaboration between Chinese and French scientists.

“I hope to continue building cultural bridges between China and France through the production of international films in the future,” he expressed.

Nearly 100 experts and scholars from home and abroad, who are attending a symposium on the 95th anniversary of the discovery, watched the film together.

Gao Xing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the discovery and research of Peking Man would not have been possible without international cooperation, and the film will help further promote China’s ancient human cultural heritage to the world.

The first complete skull of Peking Man was found by Chinese archaeologist Pei Wenzhong in December 1929 at the Location 1, or the Peking Man Site, one of the four sites in Zhoukoudian in Beijing’s Fangshan District where ancient human fossils were found. (Xinhua, SD-Agencies)