As a documentary veteran who has worked at Foshan TV in Guangdong province for 23 years, director Wang Xiaofeng has trekked on many tough terrains, but Metog county in the Tibet autonomous region is etched in his memory as his most challenging task.

"Before falling asleep every night, I couldn't predict what will come first, the next day or the next 'accident'," says Wang about filming The Lotus in the Clouds, an episode of the documentary series 2020 Women De Tuopin Gushi (The Year of 2020: Our Stories of Poverty Eradication).

During the shooting between late 2018 and 2019, Wang encountered falling gravel on steep paths, got stung by bees and was kicked by a mule. He missed the last moments of his mother's life. She died of lymphatic cancer in March 2019.

Marking China's effort to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the 10-episode series-each part spanning 50 minutes-has aired on the documentary channel of China Central Television, or CCTV9, since Aug 22.

Within four years, the production assigned eight directors to some remote areas in central and western China, including Yunnan, Hubei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces and Tibet. An average of 2,000 hours of footage was shot for each episode.