Minning Town won the title of the "Best Chinese TV Series", Yu Hewei and Tong Yao won the Best Actor and Actress Awards respectively

On the evening of June 10th, the 27th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award Ceremony was held in Shanghai Cultural Square. Because of the collection of excellent works such as Minning Town, The Age of Awakening, Like a Flowing River 2, With You, ZHUANG TAI, and Nothing But Thirty, this year's Magnolia Award selection was called "the Fight of Gods" by the audiences. At that night, the representatives of the shortlisted works and many teletricians attended the ceremony, making this film and television event truly a "highlight moment of Chinese TV series.” In the end, Minning Town defeated its strong rival The Age of Awakening and won the most important "Best Chinese TV Series Award", and Across the Yalu River and With You won the "Grand Jury Award".

Yu Hewei and Tong Yao won the Best Actor and Actress Awards for The Age of Awakening and Nothing But Thirty respectively, while You Yongzhi and Huang Yao won the Best Supporting  Actor and Actress Awards respectively for Minning Town. Being in the lead with ten nominations in the shortlist previously, Minning Town finally won four awards and became the biggest winner of this year's "Magnolia Awards".

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. The theatrical performance of the Magnolia Award Ceremony also highlighted the profound culture -  Monument, the acrobatics based on the Communist Party of China ; A Tribute to the Ingenuity, A Praise to the Era, the story told by Long Pingping, screenwriter of The Age of Awakening, Dong Zijian and Ni Guanghui, starring actor and actor of Like a Flowing River; People in the Crowd, the song sung by the singer Li Jian, Ideal lights up China, the song sung by Huang Xiaoming, Qin Hailu, Li Zefeng and Tong Yao, and other programs, once again paid tribute to these outstanding works worthy of the times.

Realistic masterpieces live up to expectations

At that night, the "Best Chinese TV Series", the blockbuster award of the Magnolia Award, was finally awarded. Based on the spiritual history of Diaozhuang migration in Xiji-Haiyuan-Guyuan Region of Ningxia, and revealing the great significance of the journey to poverty alleviation by the stories of a group of lovely people in "Yongquan Village” , Minning Town  finally won this great honor. The jury unanimously agreed that the TV series achieved "romantic expression on the basis of realistic creation” and "grand presentation of the mission and achievements of a generation of people's struggle, and reached “a superb artistic level and harmonious unity in the screenwriting, performance and influence".

The director Zhang Yongxin and screenwriter Long Pingping of The Age of Awakening won the Magnolia Award for the Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original).  Zhang Yongxin was very excited after receiving the Magnolia trophy. He exhorted himself with the line in the play "Being simple and plain shall be your academic attitude", "I will continue telling Chinese stories with this attitude."

Behind the scenes, Zhang Yongxin mentioned that he would like to thank the audiences for their love, “This year, there are many flowers in front of the tombs of the Martyrs Yannian and Qiaonian in the Longhua Martyrs’ Cemetery. And this is the biggest success of our play. I hope that we will not forget our predecessors, our heroes, since everything in China today is a victory at cost of their lives. Because we are all the same. We are "Chinese."

The success of The Age of Awakening is inseparable from years of research and 6 years of creation of Long Pingping, the screenwriter and party history expert. After receiving the Magnolia trophy, Long Pingping humbly stated that the award “benefits by the history” and “profits from the outstanding historical figures".

During the interview behind the scenes, he thanked the netizens for their interpretation of the sequel of The Age of Awakening was our good life today. " The Age of Awakening tells the story about a large number of young people came forward to find a way out for the nation which was disaster-ridden 100 years ago. And many of the people met their death like heroes in their 20s and 30s.The purpose of writing this play is to let the contemporary young people know the relationship between these people and our happy life today. I am very pleased that our young audiences can comment in such a way. Since it means that they have understood authentically and sublimated the meaning of our TV series."

The well-known actor Yu Hewei won the Best Actor Award for his wonderful performance in The Age of Awakening, which made the audiences who liked The Age of Awakening and Yu Hewei praise "the title is deserved."

At that night, Yu Hewei, who regretted not being able to come to the award-receiving scene, expressed his excitement by “it’s a real honor, and I’m over the moon” through the video. He thanked the organizing committee, and was even more grateful to "the people who opened the way for our country" in The Age of Awakening.

The actor Tong Yao was also promoted from the "Best Supporting Actress" to the "Best Actress” at the Magnolia Award. She won the Magnolia Award for Best Actress for the role of Gu Jia in Nothing But Thirty. In 2019, on this stage also, she won the award of "Best Supporting Actress” for the role of Song Yunping in Like a Flowing River;. At the scene, Tong Yao thanked the Magnolia Award for giving her the second chance, and was even more grateful to the times, "It’s my honor to be able to walk with the predecessors, to shape and interpret different characters, and to contribute to the Chinese TV series."

Screenwriter Ma Xiaoyong won the Best Screenplay (Adaptation) Award for ZHUANG TAI. He described himself as a "grey-haired newcomer." According to the comments of the audiences, ZHUANG TAI was praised as a work with "strong human interest", and the jury believed that ZHUANG TAI was an ingenious work without impetuosity, "The play delicately presents the goodness that staying true and enthusiastic in a hard life."

 “Minning Town" won four awards

Minning Town won the Best Supporting Actor and Actress Award. The actor You Yongzhi won the Best Supporting Actor Award for his lively role of "Uncle Da You". During the interview, You Yongzhi was grateful that the crew provided himself with a very real script and a very lively role,  "It is precisely because of the hard work of the screenwriter and director that today's Minning Town is created.”

The actor Huang Yao won the Best Supporting Actress Award for the role of "Bai Maimiao". While receiving the award, Huang Yao mentioned that it was the strong winds from the Gobi Desert that blew the role of Bai Maimiao on the stage. "This is the first TV series in my life. I am very grateful to meet Minning Town. She said, “Thanks to this era, we don’t have to be far away from our hometown, and don’t have to be forced to do something to earn a living nowadays.”

In addition, Yang Zhenyu won the Best Photography Award for Minning Town, and Di Kun won the Best Art Award for My Best Friend's Story. The jury believed that the former used the lens, lights and shadows to poetize the changes of the years and the transformation of the scenery, and "all the sceneries are full of emotion"; the latter “narrates the stories and shows the characters” by unifying the forms and colors harmoniously and grasping the turban texture accurately.

In recent years, China’s TV drama industry has been making every effort to export in terms of production, broadcasting, and trading through a large number of high-quality domestic dramas tell Chinese stories overseas audiences, spread the voice of China, and let the world know more about an open China. At the ceremony, Huang Xuan, the leading actor in Minning Town, and Qiao Xin, who are well-known to overseas audiences for works such as List of Langya and Ode to Joy, were awarded the title of "Chinese TV Series Overseas Promotion Ambassador". When receiving the certificate of honor, Huang Xuan and Qiao Xin mentioned that every performer is an ambassador for cultural transmission. "It is our glorious mission to let the world understand a real China."

 The TV series With You and Nothing But Thirty won the “International Communication Award" for conveying the Chinese people's spirit of fighting the epidemic and helping each other and depicting the vivid images of contemporary Chinese women to global audiences.

The documentary Up and Out of Poverty produced by China Media Group won the "Special Award ". The work combines a grand narrative with touching stories. It reflects the grand story of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China coordinating all parties in the society to fight against poverty and achieve victory in the magnificent historical process of building a well-off society in an all-round way with joint efforts.

Works "telling Chinese stories" are widely recognized

The Israeli documentary And I Was There won this year's Magnolia Award for Best Documentary. The Jury considered that the work used a truly touching story and intuitive and intense film techniques to shoot a unique humanistic immersive documentary.

This year, there are five Chinese documentary works shortlisted for the Magnolia Awards documentary category, accounting half of the lineup, and finally Little Giants produced by Bilibili won the Magnolia Award for Best Documentary Series. The jury mentioned that Little Giants provides the world with a credible perspective and a warm way of knowing China. "After exploring the children's exotic life and passionate enthusiasm, we were amazed. Even if life is complicated and diverse, children still have tenacious spirit and strength."

China in the Classics, launched by China Media Group, won the honor “Best Variety Program” from 16 shortlisted programs for promoting the excellent traditional Chinese culture. China in the Stories produced by the same team also won the same award last year.

Childlike innocence and endless imagination are the most eye-catching features that distinguish animations from other TV categories. That night, the French animation Mom is Pouring Rain won the Best Animation Award. The Jury commented that the film had reached a better artistic level in terms of aesthetics, animation techniques, character portrayal, and expression, "Deep and interesting expression, is especially impressive."

With a big orange cat "The King" as the protagonist, the Chinese animation The King Diaries, which tells a lively and interesting story about education and poverty alleviation to children, won the Best Storytelling Award. The Jury considered this work to be the outstanding representative of works spotlighting major themes through little things, and are also a masterpiece that combines correct values with vivid art.