Japanese director Takeuchi Ryo’s documentary film “The Yangtze River” will be released in China on May 24.

Ryo spent 10 years traveling the 6,300-kilometer-long Yangtze River, where he captured the remarkable changes that have taken place in China through his camera lens.

The film takes the Yangtze River as a clue, starting from bustling Shanghai and crossing 6,300 kilometers of magnificent mountains and rivers. It records the progress in the living conditions of people along the Yangtze River, and presents a vivid panorama of the rapid development of China in the past decade.

The Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world, is one of the “mother rivers” of China. Both the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are known as the cradle of Chinese civilization.

Running through 11 provincial-level regions before emptying into the East China Sea, the Yangtze River is a busy waterway that is largely energizing the country’s economy and trade.

Consisting of Shanghai and neighboring provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, the Yangtze River Delta is also one of the most populated and urbanized city clusters in China.

When the film was released in Japan in April, it received wide acclaim from Japanese critics and audiences for its new perspective on the development and changes in China.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian also gave high praise to the documentary film and noted that it presented the breathtaking landscape and the industrial people as well as their heart-warming stories.

“The sincerity and goodness channeled by the director and leading characters through the documentary transcend time, distance, language and nationality, and struck a chord among audience from various backgrounds,” Lin said at a recent press conference.

“We hope that friends from various countries will get to know more about China through this documentary and come to China to feel the robust progress of Chinese modernization for themselves.”