The modern Marco Polos

“What makes a place special to you?” is one of the most difficult questions to answer. Think about it. Does it necessarily have to include the place you were born even if you left it before you could walk? Is it because the place is where you learned to communicate or the place where you got your accent? Where you made the most important decisions of your life? Where you feel most at home? The place you dream of someday living in?

For 120 years, National Geographic has gifted generations with stunning images of science and adventure. This week, I will walk you through an adventure that only National Geographic could give. The spirit in both science and adventure is openness. No one can have an adventure or learn more about the world without risking old beliefs or prejudices. This adventure carries that very spirit.

National Geographic Channel Asia recently brought two brother-explorers to Manila to share what it was like to travel as brothers in a territory they grew up in but have not come back to for almost two decades. The territory was China and the brothers were Jeff and Peter Hutchens, photographer and filmmaker, respectively. “Somewhere in China,” the documentary that these two brothers made and in six episodes, now airing in the National Geographic Channel, they have shown us China in motion, beyond the veil of stereotypes. They travel through the Silk Road, the Three Gorges Dam, Ice City in Harbin, Yunnan, Tibet, and Beijing.

It was interesting to see how two men who spent the early part of their impressionable lives in China, go back there, now impassioned with their own individual and complementing crafts. I was struck by how the lives we leave behind find us again, somehow.

Peter, the filmmaker, painted the huge mosaic of China in moving images that expanded our reach of this ancient culture. Against our unspoken common mental backdrop of China discouraging religion, Peter gave us a stunning view of Moslems in China in Kashgar as they knelt in prayer. The common view of China as a sea of humanity toiling every minute in breaks upon a view of an Ice City in Harbin where folk routinely dip in ice water to feel invigorated.

Jeff provided the stills that froze the moods of the vast country and its ancient civilization. I liked what Jeff said that this was a country of over a billion people in which he wanted to capture quiet moments — “solace.” The photo essay he showed us seemed Neruda-esque to me. I found myself writing down “captions” to his stills: “violin light” on a bulb captured in an angle that made it look like a suspended violin; “man crossing a page” for a photo of a man walking a green space; “time weaving in light” for an image of a cobwebbed bulb.

The two brothers traveled China carrying pieces of their childhood memories, a gentle humor and a great passion to explore and I would like to add, kind hearts and open minds, to allow the place and its people to come through their lenses and show who the Chinese really are. That even if there are over a billion of them, their individual faces, the sparkle in those pair of eyes, the song of the Yangtze balladeer — are no less worthy of what China is about. There was no agenda for these two brothers, save to expose the rich tapestry of China, by casting in light and shadow the amazing encounters they had with actual faces, actual moments in a sea of lives.

I asked them what their adventure has taught them about hope for humans and the planet, given the global uncertainty we all seem to face now. They said that adventures like this really reveal what is so common about all of us which makes our humanity shine. They said these things do not usually make the headlines. Friendships, unless brokered by states, do not make breaking news. But this is what makes us humans cultivate hope for ourselves that we have it in within us to be better humans to one another and the planet.

What makes a place special is tied up with your ability to understand it in its changing seasons. The Hutchens brothers in “Somewhere in China” showed us that seeing with new eyes is what transforms you. It makes you, as National Geographic says, think again.

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For comments, e-mail [email protected] (Note: Don’t miss out on Cafe Scientifique, “Mind Trip: The Power of Memory,” at mag:net cafe, Bonifacio High Street on Oct. 25, 4:30 p.m., as neurosurgeon Dr. Bong Casis leads us on a deep dig into the great depths of the mind, in exploring the science of memory. Be part of the fun and share your thoughts, comments and questions. This lively conversational is moderated by Mitzi Borromeo. It is free and open to the public. For inquiries/RSVP, e-mail at [email protected].