Natural popularity

Suspenseful music gets audiences' adrenaline pumping, as snowcapped mountains leap into sight, immediately pulling viewers into the documentary, The Forest of Metog — The Beautiful Creatures in the World's Largest Canyon.

These glaciers, the vast grasslands and arid plateau terrain may account for many people's first impressions of the Xizang autonomous region. Fewer people realize the region also boasts the country's largest forest reserve, says Zhang Chenliang, who led a team to this area of lush temperate and subtropical forests to finish the 30-minute film that premiered in September.

"These stunning realities are presented in Metog county, which was the last place of its kind in China to get road access to the outside world," says Zhang, who also acts as the film's host.

He guides viewers to get a peek of the magic of the natural world.

They can see how the white-lipped tree frog can hang its eggs from leaves while preventing them from drying up, and how the warty flying frog, which is known for the large round bumps covering its abdomen and inner thighs, lays eggs inside bamboo chutes and relies on rainwater flowing into the plant's nodes to reproduce. Another scene features leeches sucking blood.