(Yicai Global) April 16 -- Shanghai Media Group set up a documentary center yesterday to enhance the influence of its non-fiction releases at home and abroad, with at least five documentaries to debut this year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The center will integrate the resources of its Docu TV, SMG News, Dragon TV, Yicai Media and Shanghai Media Group Copyright Asset Center.

The center will produce high-quality documentaries based on three and five-year plans, placing emphasis on important timely themes. 

SMG is one of China's largest media and cultural conglomerates that is committed to producing documentaries. SMG's affiliate Shanghai Television Station launched China's first program in the genre, namely Documentary Editing Room, as well as the nation's first dedicated factual story channel Docu TV.  

The center will roll out a series of tribute documentaries to celebrate the 70th anniversary, including titles such as the Great Shanghai, One Year After Shanghai's Liberation, and Love of the Yangtze River. Others include China's Founding Ceremony, No. 211 -- Bombs Were Born Here, and they will be broadcasted on Dragon TV this year.

SMG has produced a large number of high-quality documentaries and trained many emerging makers of them, engraving the spirit of Shanghai in China's TV history, Gao Yunfei, SMG director and president, said at the opening ceremony of the center.

"SMG has integrated its high-quality documentary resources to build a documentary center mainly embodied by Docu TV through an innovative management model, aiming to create a new model of content production and platform operation," Gao said.

Nie Chenxi, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China,Zhou Huilin, head of the Publicity Department of the Shanghai Party Committee and over 200 guests attended the ceremony.

Editor: Emmi Laine