What happens when a group of China’s best known journalists, bloggers, radio hosts and photographers go on assignment in Arnhem Land? For the Northern Territory tourism body, it has been a bonanza, reports Sophie Loras.

When Chinese-born Australian Liu Man and his friend Karl Goodhand came up with the idea to promote tourism in the Northern Territory to China, they perhaps didn’t envisage where that idea would take them. Man, who had already been awed by the contrast between Australia’s cities and its remote outback, had been equally moved when Goodhand had introduced him to his Aboriginal friends in Arnhem Land.

What ensued was the production of a demo tape by Man and Goodhand which was circulated to Chinese online and broadcast media using Man’s high profile contacts in China. The tape was a hit and before long a group of some of China’s most renowned journalists, bloggers, radio hosts and photographers had agreed to be part of the documentary ‘Discovery of the Mystery Land’ as it followed their experiences and travels in the territory. Chinese state-owned CCTV 10 channel quickly came onboard, buying up the rights to the project, providing the television crew and covering production costs. Before long, Tourism NT had also become a major sponsor, putting up $160,000 in logistical support. The final team comprised of several award-winning Chinese journalists including Ma Xiaoling, the founder of a popular website and veteran war correspondent Liang Zi, who kept a regular blog during filming as well as producing her own production on the making of the documentary. Other celebrities included popular Beijing radio host Wu Yong, who did live broadcasts from Arnhem Land for his Chinese radio station and famous Chinese photographers Bao Kun and Wang Zheng. Two not so famous Chinese people were also invited to join the group but with more than 5,000 applications, a Survivor-style selection process was implemented sending the recruits through a Chinese army drill.

The two who remained were 44-year-old businessman Wu Zhuwei and Tang Zhi, a 19-year-old student who had never been on a plane before and had never been outside China.

Filming consisted of four parts; the first two were set in western Arnhem Land where the Chinese party was taught how to survive in the bush, eat bush tucker, hunt using traditional methods and build a bush shelter. The third part was filmed in Wrry, also in western Arnhem Land where indigenous community leader Maria Stevens and 30 other members of her community taught the Chinese how to fish, eat salt water bush tucker and engage in Aboriginal dancing and music, including the didgeridoo. The final part was filmed in Alice Springs and Kakadu, where the group visited Uluru, spoke to the rangers about how they managed the park and looked at ancient Aboriginal rock art.

Some of the most profound moments of the documentary occur in Arnhem Land when the two cultures mix. At one point, as the group eats a dinner of sea cucumbers and fresh crayfish, the Chinese contingent begin discussing how much money Stevens could be making by selling her produce to China. She promptly asks them what they would do with all the money and tells them the land has been entrusted to them to pass on to the next generation.

“In modern Chinese society today it’s all about money,” says Man of the contradiction between the two groups.

For the Tourism NT, the $160,000 logistical grant is proving to be money well spent. Richard Doyle, Tourism NT’s Asia director for Japan, Asia, Aviation and Cruise, estimates that the exposure the Northern Territory has received in China as a result of the documentary itself, through broadcast and print media news stories, the blogs, photographic exhibitions and the release of a special edition photography book as well as a 32-page China National Geographic special on the region, could reach as many as 500,000 million people. Already the tourism body is seeing an increase in the amount of interest from Chinese travel agencies regarding tours to the Northern Territory and that is expected to increase even further once the documentary screens in March. Currently between 3,000 and 4,000 Chinese visit the Northern Territory each year, but Doyle hopes to see those figures increase tenfold within the next five years. “If we saw those numbers increase to 20,000 to 30,000 high-yield Chinese tourists over the next two to five years then we’d know we’ve done our jobs properly,” says Doyle.

They may be ambitious figures, but for Liu Man, the hope is that many other Chinese will be able to enjoy this remote area of Australia and its people, as much as he has. “Between the heaven and the earth there is just you, and nothing has been touched for 30,000 years,” says Man.

*Discovery of the Mystery Land screens in China throughout March on CCTV 10.