National Geographic and Bilibili Partner for Nature Doc “The Hidden Kingdoms of China”

Chinese video streaming platform Bilibili has teamed up with National Geographic for a new nature documentary series entitled The Hidden Kingdoms of China. The show debuted in China last week, attracting lots of views and Bilibili’s signature “bullet comments” — streams of text comments from users that fire across the screen from right to left.

According to Bilibili, the series “spans from China’s highest mountains and plateaus to its thickest tropical jungles and bamboo forests [and] reveals the mysteries of the country’s iconic wildlife.” The first episode focused on the iconic giant panda — airing around the time US-born panda Bei Bei departed the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington DC for China. Other episodes will feature the Tibetan fox, the snow leopard, and the golden snub-nosed monkey.

The series is due to be broadcast on National Geographic channels worldwide from December 3. The “global premiere” generated 2.78 million views and 18,000 “bullet comments” on Bilibili in its first three days, a press release from the company stated. 

The documentary show follows in the footsteps of partnerships between China’s Tencent and the BBC, including 2016’s Planet Earth II, 2017’s The Blue Planet II and last year’s Dynasties. Bilibili itself also worked with the BBC last year (on Wonders of the Moon) and will cooperate with The Discovery Channel to produce First Man Out of China, a China special of the First Man Out survival series, in 2020. 

Although it’s primarily known as an anime platform, Bilibili has expanded its repertoire in recent years to include more documentaries, including an enormously popular series on street food.