Using an ancient way of marking time — the 12 shichen — as its axis, the new CGTN documentary "Xinjiang Dawn to Dusk" unfolds a living scroll of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region across four seasons, showing how people from various ethnicities, trades, and regions weave a flourishing tapestry of life.

The 12 shichen divide a day into 12 segments: zi, chou, yin, mao, chen, si, wu, wei, shen, you, xu, and hai. They mirror the rhythms of nature and guide daily life, and form a wisdom that has endured for generations.

Blending cosmic time with human stories, "Xinjiang Dawn to Dusk" follows the lives of more than 20 characters, capturing everyday moments through a cinematic lens — revealing a land alive with hope and vitality.

From Egyptians charting the Nile's floods and Babylonians tracing the stars to today's atomic clocks measuring fractions of a second, humanity has never ceased to ask: What is time?

Xinjiang's 12 shichen offers its own answer.