Photo/Weibo account of Once upon a Bite 

Oct. 31 (NBD) -- A new Chinese documentary series named Once upon a Bite made its debut on Tencent's video website and Zhejiang Television on Monday.

The series share stories of food in China and around the world, featuring local cuisine and cultures.

It received over 100 million views and earned a high rating of 9.4 out of 10 on the social website Douban Movie only 3 hours after Episode 1 was released. 

Once upon a Bite is the latest offering of famous Chinese documentary filmmaker Chen Xiaoqing.

Working as a director for 32 years, Chen has produced a series of historical and character-based documentaries including Forest China and Zhu De.

The 53-year-old filmmaker suddenly shot to fame after directing the first and second season of A Bite of China, a seven-episode documentary television series on the history of food, eating, and cooking in China. 

The first season, filmed in 70 locations in China, began to air on state TV broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) in May 2012 and quickly gained praise and widespread popularity, drawing a 9.3 rating on Douban Movie.

On 18 April 2014, the second season of A Bite of China appeared on CCTV. The documentary depicting 150 life stories and more than 300 dishes across the country also won high ratings.

According to data from CSM Media Research, the audience shares for Episode 1 Foodsteps and Episode 2 Heart's Message hit 1.57 percent and 1.63 percent respectively. 

A total of 3,591 packs of hung-dried noodles from northwest China's Shaanxi, which was introduced in Episode 2 on April 25, were ordered on the series' partner e-commerce platform Tmall in the following three days. 

Once upon a Bite, as Chen's new production on food culture, drew great attention before its debut.

Photo/Weibo account of Once upon a Bite

It is noteworthy that unlike A Bite of China shown on CCTV, Once upon a Bite is allowed to provide outtakes, short videos and a talk show online for audiences, by which it is able to present various contents in diversified ways and satisfy different preferences of viewers.

Chen admitted that the pressure brought by the new work could make him nervous.

A good documentary filmmaker should take the audience’s tastes and feelings into account, tell a good story, make audiences believe the story and feel attracted to it, noted Chen.

It is hard to create documentaries, but people can't ignore the diversity of lives when their lives are becoming homogenized, Chen said during the interview after the premiere of Once upon a Bite held on October 25.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn