Documentary - The Mission

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Dulong – A Chinese term that represents a ‘Lone-Dragon’, is the name of the least populated ethnic minority tribe in China. With a population of only 5,816, the Dulong is an ancient mountain people with their own language, but with no written words. Even till this day, the Dulong are farmers who continue to burn and cultivate the land with the most primitive of methods.

More than a century ago, French Catholic missionaries Annet Genestler bought Catholicism to the remote plateau where the Dulong people live, and since then, the Dulong have remained Catholic. Every Sunday, the Dulong observe the Sabbath in a dilapidated mission, singing and chanting their worship.

Though the villagers have not been able to afford the restoration of their mission and chapel, they have expressed a wish to add a portrait of Christ to their tattered and barren walls.

A fellow Catholic from the United States, upon hearing the Dulongs wish for a memento of faith, decided to deliver an icon to them. This young American, upon arriving in Yunnan, has to negotiate the rest of his journey on foot as he ventures through the wetness and the precipice of what is known as the Grand Canyon of the Orient.

“The Jungle Mission”, an hour-long documentary, makes a visual record of the young American’s venture into the Yunnan. A team of videographers enters the jungle with the young man and bear witness to a journey into the harsh terrain of South West China.

View the trailer on YouTube