12-PART DOCUMENTARY ON LIFE IN CHINA TO AIR

American television audiences will soon be offered an in-depth look at contemporary life in China with “The Heart of the Dragon,” a 12-part documentary series due on public television.

Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer, co-anchors of public television’s nightly “MacNeil/Lehrer News-Hour,” will serve as hosts and moderators for the independently produced British series, which is scheduled for prime-time broadcast weekly on public television stations nationwide, starting May 6.

“This series is of the stature and quality of the ‘Civilisation’ series of a decade ago in its depth and comprehension. It examines life in China with a fine-toothed comb,” Al Vecchione, president of MacNeil-Lehrer-Gannett Productions, said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s also extraordinarily timely, in terms of the changes that are taking place in China today, including its relations with this country and with the rest of the world.”

MacNeil-Lehrer-Gannett, a three-year-old independent production company formed jointly by MacNeil, Lehrer and Gannett, the communications company, is co-producing the British series for American television with South Carolina Educational Television, with a $3-million grant from the General Electric Co. Vecchione said 50 American corporations were approached before a firm underwriting commitment was made.

According to Vecchione, the $8-million series was shot on locations in China over an 18-month period between 1981 and 1983. He said doors that had been closed to Westerners for more than 30 years--from the country’s largest industrial centers to rural villages--were opened to a British film crew headed by series executive producer Peter Montagnon. (Montagnon’s TV credits include the acclaimed Kenneth Clark “Civilisation” series.)

The China series, which is narrated by actor Anthony Quayle, aired on Britain’s commercial television network, Channel 4, last year. It received a 1984 International Emmy Award as best documentary.

Vecchione said that each hourlong segment in the series focuses on a different aspect of Chinese life, starting with “Living” and followed by “Working,” “Eating,” “Believing,” “Caring,” “Marrying,” “Meditating,” “Correcting,” “Understanding,” “Creating,” “Trading” and “Remembering.”

“The more I watched, the more I saw how different from yet how similar we are to the Chinese,” Vecchione said. “They are the same people, with the same concerns, only manifested differently.”

Vecchione pointed out that seven to nine minutes each week will be reserved for Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer, who will provide introductory and background material for the series. They also will be interviewing one or more China “experts,” as yet unselected.

He said the aim of the on-air analysis would be to set the series in “an American perspective.” A companion book to the series also is due to be published here in May by Houghton Mifflin.

“In the end, this series should give American audiences a better understanding of life in China--and in a world plagued by misunderstanding, this is a good thing,” Vecchione said.