Updated: 2016-01-07 08:12

By Xu Fan(China Daily USA)

A new documentary follows the crew of the submersible Jiaolong as it plumbs the depths of the Indian Ocean, Xu Fan reports.

China's first manned deep-sea submersible vessel, Jiaolong, got plenty of news coverage, but few readers and TV viewers learned much about the personal stories of those who stayed inside it days and nights at sea.

These are tales of joy, sorrow, stress and nostalgia, as revealed in the recent TV documentary series Deep Sea, mainly revolving on China's exploration of the southwestern Indian Ocean.

The series presents both the mysterious undersea world and the daily life of the scientists and aquanauts - the latter group today is fewer in number than astronauts.

In the three-episode show, a pilot is seen coming back from a virgin dive and getting teased about it by colleagues at a ceremony that involved pouring water on the person's head.

A captain hopes to calm the high waves by tossing out an apple, a word (pingguo) with a similar pronunciation in Mandarin for "safety".

In another segment, Jiaolong has a surprise encounter with an egg-laying shrimp near an undersea volcanic vent.

The program is produced by the state broadcaster CCTV 10 and several other partners, including an Australian film studio that specializes in ocean photography.

Premiered by CCTV 10 from Jan 1-3, the series will return through CCTV 4 and CCTV 9 in the near future. It will also run in other countries, such as the United States, France, Germany, Australia and Indonesia.

For director Liao Ye, a 62-year-old TV veteran, the program popularizes the value of oceanic exploration and the beauty of water.

"When I stood on the deck, I had never got bored watching the spectacular scenes for one hour," recalls Liao during a phone interview with China Daily.

He says the most impressive moments include witnessing schools of flying fish and dolphins jumping out of the shimmering water.

The video crew cruised aboard Xiangyanghong-9, the research vessel that carried Jiaolong almost half a world from China to a remote area of the southwestern Indian Ocean from late 2014 to early 2015. The submersible had the scientific mission to research polymetallic sulfides, biological diversity and hydrothermal microbes.

The Indian Ocean site, however, was not CCTV's first choice, according to the program's producer Feng Qiqi.

Liao initially focused on the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Known as the deepest part of the world's oceans, the Mariana Trench reaches a maximum known depth of 10,994 meters, and Jiaolong reached a depth of 7,062 meters in the same trench in 2012.

Despite the high expectations, the footage shot then was not satisfying due to "some technical problems", says Feng.

"The documentary series is different from news reports. We need to narrate a tale, to make it dramatic and interesting for audiences," she says.

The voyage in the Indian Ocean worked better in many ways.

Limited by the 96 beds on the ship Xiangyanghong-9 - mostly for scientists and staff members - only two beds were allocated to the TV media crew during the Mariana Trench tour, but for the southwestern Indian Ocean voyage the quota was raised to six.

Thanks to the good relationship established from the first ride, the Deep Sea crew got four beds the second time. The Australian camerawoman Rachael Thorton, from CCTV 10's Australian partner, became the first foreigner to travel on Jiaolong.

The overseas version will be re-edited by the Australian studio to condense the three episodes into a single episode.

"Foreigners have a different taste for documentaries. We believe our Australian partner will make it more localized," says Liao.

Alongside the exciting quests to find new creatures and minerals, some hazardous moments are also highlighted in the series. Once, Jiaolong was almost stuck far below the surface due to a mechanical breakdown.

"The submersible relies on throwing out 'ballast pigs' (heavy iron cubes) to gain buoyancy, but one of the cubes was stuck on Jiaolong's waist. It means it could not plunge or rise, but halted at a depth of 1,000 meters," Liao says.

Multiple emergency systems are designed for the vessel, including unloading the battery or robot-mounted arms, but all failed. Relying on the last hope - using the propeller, despite a power shortage after a full day of research under the sea - the sub pilot returned the craft to the surface.

"The young man was scared, but he didn't tell the passengers. The next day when we interviewed him, he said he once prayed for survival, as he is the only child in his family," recalls Liao.

For Liao and his crew, the Deep Sea series has not been a documentary seeking eyeball-grabbing adventures, but an examination of the relationship between nature and human beings.

"Our distant ancestors lived in the ocean around 300 million years ago. The journey resembles a visit back to a long-missed hometown," the prologue narrates in every episode.

Liao says: "Compared to the sky above our heads, human beings still have much less knowledge of the sea and the world beneath it."

Top: A new documentary series by CCTV will take audiences to the depths of the Indian Ocean. Above left: China’s first manned deepsea submersible vessel, Jiaolong, is the star of the documentary. Above right: Crew members of the documentary series Deep Sea are excited about their voyage.Photos Provided To China Daily

(China Daily USA 01/07/2016 page9)