Scenes from Monday's Where I'm Coming From featuring Joan Chen (Right) Photos: Courtesy of CCTV 1

For the documentary series Where I'm Coming From, producers invited five guests -historian Yi Zhongtian, TV host Qiu Menghuang, actresses Joan Chen and Bowie Tsang, and curios connoisseur Ma Weidu - to travel from place to place across China to chase down the stories of their ancestors. Over the course of the ongoing series each guest is set to discover a private history dating back several decades or even several centuries.

First starting on April 27, the documentary airs every Monday on CCTV 1, with episodes also released on streaming sites Tencent Video and Youku.

The show has become quite popular online, receiving 11 million views on Youku after only four episodes and getting a 9.1 (out of 10) on media critique site douban.com and a 9 on Youku.

Qiu described the process of tracking down his family roots as more like an adventure through history rather than just a trip around the country.

"They have a chance to see a personal history, which while not complete is still full of details and secrets," Li Lun, the show's producer, said during a press conference on April 10. "I don't know how to define this documentary. I think it might be a program about both history and celebrities, but it is closer to being a show about people."

Adventure into the unknown

The series combines elements from reality shows with that of a documentary. Though the show's staff already conducted research into the family history of guests before filming, guests were left in the dark, having to follow clues given to them by the crew in order to find out the truth the past contained.

"This way we could record guests' real reactions as they learned about their ancestors. It is one of the most interesting parts of the documentary," Jin Hui, the documentary's chief editor, told the Global Times.

The first three episodes revealed the family roots of historian Yi Zhongtian. Although Yi has conducted considerable research into Chinese history, this was the first time that his own history was the subject of research.

Yi's trip started with a list of 253 people. Looking at the list of people, most of whom shared his family name, he noticed that more than a few people died on the same day: September 23, 1939. Curious about what possibly may have happened that day, Yi began his adventure to explore the stories of his ancestors.

"I never knew that the mystery of my family was linked so close to the destiny of the whole country," Yi said.

Monday's guest, Joan Chen, spent seven days on a trip exploring her grandfather's personal life. Along the way she explored the key role her grandfather, Zhang Changshao, played in China's pharmaceutical history, learning about the numerous studies he conducted in the field before his suicide in 1967, when she was only 6.

"Chen said she wanted to get to know her grandfather as a person, rather than some old man from a young girl's memory. We found more facts about his early life, and gradually came to understand his personality," Jin told the Global Times.

Facing the past

Not everyone's ancestors, however, lived a life of glory.

"Unlike other guests whose past was splendid enough to be recorded in the history books, my family were ordinary people not worthy enough to mention. I used to be a little embarrassed, but when I walked over the same land where my ancestors once passed, I felt waves of real, strong emotion in my heart," Bowie Tsang, one of the guests, wrote on Where I'm Coming From's official blog. 

Although the history of a person's family may sometimes be less than heroic, and revealing it after it has been hidden for so many years might hurt, Qiu believes it is still something we need to face regardless of how difficult it may be.   

Getting the program going was also no easy task. The staff contacted a number of people, who, while not necessarily stars, were well known in at least some field. However, many people refused the invitation in order to avoid exposing the private lives of their family members to the public. Meanwhile, an accepted invitation didn't automatically equal success, as the family history of some people was too hard to uncover due to a lack of available information.

"We are very grateful to the guests who wanted to take part in our documentary," said Jin.

Seeking roots

This documentary series is not the first to explore family history. Outside of China, reality shows such as BBC's Who Do You Think You Are have a similar concept. However, though these programs share the commonality of searching for family roots, the situation in China is quite different.

"Quite a bit of information was damaged or lost over the past century, which makes our work much harder," said Jin explaining that many families that lived through the middle period of the last century hid their family history and even destroyed all the old documents or photos they had, therefore making research even harder.

Luckily, during early research for the documentary, Jin and his team members found that, surprisingly enough, it was possible to get some information through local libraries or by asking for help from local historians.

Inspired by the series, many people have left messages on the documentary's official Weibo and youku.com, describing their own family history.

The show has also inspired the documentary staff themselves to start paying more attention to their own history. As Jin told the Global Times, "The old stories my father used to try and tell me that I originally didn't have the patience to hear have suddenly become very attractive to me. I've started to want to find out what happen to my own ancestors."

"Our lives are full of turning points. The turning points of our ancestors at the very least decided where we were born. While everyone is unique, we are connected with our families, and the marks they made in history are still there for us to find," said Tsang.