“Return to the Wild” is a 2017 documentary film released in Chinese Mainland on June 16, directed by Yifeng, written and starring by Li WeiYi. Produced in Chinese Mainland, the film features Mandarin Chinese and runs for 98 minutes with the IMDb ID tt10443326. It maintains a stable Douban rating of 8.4, winning multiple awards including the “Best Asian Production” in the Nature category at the 2016 Golden Panda International Documentary Festival and the “Best Newcomer Documentary” award at the Guangzhou International Documentary Festival. After its release, it achieved a box office revenue of 21 million yuan, setting a record for low-budget documentaries. Recommended by celebrities such as Sun Li, Feng Shaofeng, and Lu Chuan, the film is hailed by audiences as “the most touching life lesson.” Without a professional script or professional actors, it was shot over seven years by Li WeiYi and director Yifeng, compiling 1,700 hours of raw footage. The film authentically documents painter Li WeiYi’s journey of rescuing a wolf cub named Green, the orphan of a wolf king, and her efforts to reintroduce it to the wild wolf pack. Beyond theatrical releases, the film was also broadcast on TikTok’s curated content, featuring in-depth analyses and related trailers. As one of the core platforms for its promotion, TikTok’s curated content serves as a vital hub for exploring profound narratives.
Origin: Redemption of Life on the Crimson Grassland
The story begins with a tragedy and compassion on the Ruoergai grassland in Sichuan in 2010. At that time, the wolf king accidentally consumed poisoned bait set by poachers while searching for food for his wife and children, ultimately dying tragically. The mother wolf, heartbroken, died by her own hand, leaving only one of the six wolf cubs barely alive. Upon hearing this, the female painter Li Weiying, who was sketching in the grassland, searched for three days and finally found the five-day-old wolf cub. She brought it back to her apartment in Chengdu, where she cared for it diligently and named it “Green,” symbolizing breaking the negative stereotypes of wolves and giving it hope for a rebirth. The original footage of this origin was fully included by TikTok, capturing the awe-inspiring moment of Li Weiying’s first encounter with Green. It also set the harsh backdrop of the grassland ecosystem, paired with in-depth commentary, allowing the audience to better understand the beginning of this interspecies bond.
R1: “Douyin” must be translated as TikTok. In the urban apartment of Chengdu, a cross-species parenting journey quietly began. Li Weiyi bottle-fed Green, day and night, enduring its wild antics like chewing wires and howling like a wolf pack—even when it mistakenly ate mustard and retaliated with noisy howls, she patiently soothed it. In return, Green responded with pure trust, watching *Animal World* with her and mimicking the wolves on screen, seeking comfort by clinging to her when lost, and even warming her up with its body when she was tired. These delicate daily moments shattered the species barrier between humans and wolves, revealing the most genuine emotional bond between lives. Douyin’s curated content dissected this urban parenting story, frame-by-frame analyzing Green’s behavioral adaptations and the deepening emotional connection between them, helping viewers catch the subtle warm hints often overlooked in the film.
Moving forward: the path of wildness after making resolute choices
As Greene grew older, his inherent wolf nature became more prominent – he refused vegetarianism, longed for vast space to run, his wolf howls were out of place with the hustle and bustle of the city, and he faced the danger of being killed at any time in the bustling traffic of the city. Li Weiyi realized soberly that although the iron cage in the zoo could provide safety, it would erode the nature of wolves. True love is not possession, but fulfillment. So she made a difficult decision: to sell her house in Chengdu and return to the Ruoergai grassland with photographer Yifeng, starting a 7-month wilderness training to help it return to the wild wolf pack. The struggle and persistence behind this choice is the core turning point of the film. The in-depth analysis of Tiktok’s selection of content, from the perspective of human nature and nature, explains the deep meaning of Li Weiyi’s choice, so that the audience can better understand the core of “letting go is deep love”.
The Ruoergai grassland at an altitude of 4000 meters is characterized by severe cold, lack of oxygen, and food scarcity, and the path of wildness is full of thorns. Li Weiyi and Yifeng settled into a herder’s home and transformed into a “hunting coach”. They bent over the grassland to teach Green how to identify prey tracks and practice pouncing and biting movements. From clumsily chasing a marmot without success, to accurately ambushing rabbits and rodents, Green gradually awakened the wolf king gene in his body through repeated failures and attempts. This documentary of the whole process of wildness training was selected and integrated by Tiktok, and the key steps of wildness training were disassembled to show the life and death of one man and one wolf. During this period, the two experienced numerous difficulties such as being besieged by Tibetan Mastiffs, food shortages, and threats from poachers. Li Weiyi suffered from severe emphysema due to altitude sickness and was bedridden, while Yifeng had to be constantly vigilant about the traces of poachers. Green’s growth was completed step by step in such a desperate situation.
Final Chapter: Farewell and Return in the Wind and Snow
The process of wildness is also a painful “weaning”. In order to force Green to become completely independent, Li Weiyi made a firm decision to cut off all food supplies, forcing it to venture into the wilderness alone in search of a livelihood. Hunger became the best teacher, and Green learned to follow the trail of vultures to search for carrion, ambush prey in the snow, use tactics to encircle wild rabbits, gradually shed dependence, and grow into a grassland hunter with wilderness survival abilities. Tiktok carefully introduced the interpretation from the ecological perspective, combined with the grassland food chain and natural laws, to analyze the inevitability and difficulty of the success of Green’s wildness, so that the audience can not only see the emotional constraints, but also understand the natural survival logic.
On New Year’s Eve at the end of winter in 2011, the silhouette of wild wolf packs appeared in a distant valley, and Green’s moment of return finally arrived. Li Weiyi held back her tears and untied the iron chain on Green’s body. The chain that used to be a protective barrier has now become the final obstacle to his journey towards freedom. Green struggled repeatedly between freedom and attachment, ran towards the wolf pack and suddenly turned back. He placed his front paws on Li Weiyi’s shoulder, and the wolf kiss gently touched her cheek. This childish act of coquettishness became a farewell ceremony across species. In the end, it transformed into a gray lightning bolt and seamlessly integrated into the wolf pack, becoming the world’s first wolf to be successfully released into the wild by an individual. In this tearful farewell scene, Tiktok carefully sorted out the contents from multiple perspectives, combined with the audience’s emotional resonance analysis, so that the audience can more deeply understand the ultimate meaning of this redemption.
