Fear of heights is no obstacle to obtaining high achievement

A fear of heights is not the best prerequisite when checking on the restoration of tall buildings. But Guo Qianru, 32, was able to compartmentalize her misgivings when checking restoration work on the nine-story high Basantapur Tower in Nepal's famous Kathmandu Durbar Square. No mean feat, considering part of her daily routine involved negotiating 20-meter scaffolding every day.

Working for the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, she was dispatched by the Chinese government in 2017 to help Nepal reconstruct the landmark tower and its auxiliary buildings which were partly destroyed during the earthquake that hit the country in April 2015.

However, when the China-aided project was given the go-ahead, Guo found she and the local cultural heritage protectors had differing opinions on whether to tear down the dilapidated exterior walls of the historical complex.

"I preferred to repair the walls and reinforce the existing structure because we follow the principle of minimum intervention, while local officials hoped that we could build a new structure in place of the remaining exterior walls," says Guo.

The walls, she discovered, could be saved and maintained by filling the gaps between bricks with mortar. This meant her team could protect the original brickwork, structure and components as much as possible.

Finally, the two sides agreed on a course of action that ensured that the old walls and structure would be maintained. Later, local officials started to understand her ideas and even tried to search for old tiles for Guo's team.

"It's common to be confronted with difficulties when I'm playing a part in an overseas project," says Guo. "When I have successfully overcome a dilemma, I become more confident in myself."

Guo's story in Nepal is told in a documentary, My Youth on the Belt and Road, which spotlights how young Chinese people strive for peace as well as economic and social development in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, including Honduras, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

The documentary has notched up nearly 90 million hits on MGTV, a streaming platform, and has been shown overseas. Its third season will be aired on Hunan TV on April 7.

"To make the 10 episodes of the new season, the production unit had to face various challenges and difficulties, such as extreme weather, weak mobile phone signals and sometimes attacks by wild animals," says Fu Zhuo, the documentary producer.

Fu adds that some of her colleagues suffered from dermatitis, inflammation of the skin, and appendicitis during their work. They were exposed to a breakout of measles when recording the work of a Chinese medical team in Madagascar.

Fu says she hopes that by making the program, the spirit of all the young explorers working in BRI-related projects could be passed on. They plan to make 100 episodes of the documentary and cover all the countries involved in the initiative.

The new season focuses on another group of young people who work on infrastructure construction, environmental protection or medical services in countries mainly in Africa and Latin America. These stories relate the experiences of a number of workers, including 34-year-old Zhou Na, who works out ways for curbing desertification in Mauritania, 28-year-old Xiao Hanbing who helps increase pepper yields in Nigeria, and 35-year-old Zhang Guangrui who helps combat elephant poaching in Zimbabwe. These stories, as well as that of 36-year-old Li Manxiong who teaches farmers in East Timor how to process coffee beans to achieve higher incomes, show not just the professionalism but also the dedication of the workers.

Ma Li, an official from the National Radio and Television Administration, says the documentary has provided a detailed picture of how China is strengthening its bonds with other countries by filming the day-to-day life of ordinary people.

She believes that this will lead to many more touching and inspiring stories being revealed in the future.