In 2017, when documentary director Liu Hanxiang went to an ice hockey club in the capital and saw a group of 7-year-old children competing on the rink and their parents highly engaged with what was happening, he decided to film their stories.
At that time, he was a father-to-be. Facing the birth of his daughter, he had no idea how to bring her up and felt anxious about his new family role. Liu had grown up in a village in Shandong province where he had a carefree childhood.
"However, my daughter is going to grow up in a city. I didn't know much about how well-educated parents raise their children in urban places," says the 35-year-old director.
"I thought, maybe I can learn from these parents of the children playing hockey on how to be a good father."
With such questions in mind, he started to film their daily lives. In Liu's views, the three families he chose to document respectively represent three broad sections of Chinese parents.
