'Witness Shaanxi to Catch up and Surpass – 2017 CRI Chinese and Foreign Journalists Seeing Shaanxi Interviews' event kicks off

Sun Lin, Deputy Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee Publicity Department and Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Cyberspace Administration, opens the launch ceremony of “Witness Shaanxi to Catch up and Surpass – 2017 CRI Chinese and Foreign Journalists Seeing Shaanxi Interviews” event in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province on April 24, 2017. [Photo: China Plus]

On April 24, 2017, the "Witness Shaanxi to Catch up and Surpass – 2017 China Radio International (CRI) Chinese and Foreign Journalists Seeing Shaanxi Interviews" event kicked off in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. During the five-day event, a team of more than 70 reporters will be visiting various locations in Shaanxi to conduct interviews. The group consists of CRI reporters from more than 20 countries, including France, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Uruguay, Tanzania, Croatia, Albania, Indonesia, Laos, Nigeria and North Korea, as well as reporters from other Chinese state and local Shaanxi media organizations.

Sun Lin, Deputy Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee Publicity Department and Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Cyberspace Administration, opened the launch ceremony of the event. In his remarks, Sun said that Shaanxi, as the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, had acted as a bridge for East-West cultural exchanges. He added that the event was a joint effort to promote Shaanxi and that he hoped the event would help capture the local government's new measures to develop Shaanxi and the province's new growth and spirit, which would enhance Shaanxi's domestic and international image and influence.

Fan Jianping, Director of CRI Online, speaks during the launch ceremony of “Witness Shaanxi to Catch up and Surpass – 2017 CRI Chinese and Foreign Journalists Seeing Shaanxi Interviews” event in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province on April 24, 2017. [Photo: China Plus]

Fan Jianping, Director of CRI Online, also spoke at the ceremony. Fan said Shaanxi, as one of the important birthplaces of the Chinese civilization, had built a substantial cultural foundation. He said the five-day event would fully utilize CRI Online's multilingual, international and multimedia advantages and resources to promote the province to the international community.

Helene Masquelier, a French reporter at CRI, spoke on behalf of the foreign journalists at the opening ceremony. She said that she had heard of Xi'an as an ancient Chinese capital but was surprised to see a modern city upon her arrival. She said she believed that Xi'an and Shaanxi would bring new surprises to her group in the coming days.

A flag ceremony was held during the launch of “Witness Shaanxi to Catch up and Surpass – 2017 CRI Chinese and Foreign Journalists Seeing Shaanxi Interviews” event in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province on April 24, 2017. [Photo: China Plus]

The interview event is jointly sponsored by the Shaanxi Provincial Cyberspace Administration, the External Publicity Office of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and CRI Online and is being executed by CRI Online's Shaanxi branch. Other officials attending the ceremony included Zhang Lin, Deputy Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Cyberspace Administration, Bai Guangliang, Deputy Director of the External Publicity Office of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, Duan Yamin, Director of the Xi'an Municipal Cyberspace Administration and Zhang Xiaoning, Director of the External Publicity Office of the Xi'an Municipal Party Committee.

During their tour of Shaanxi, the journalists will visit various districts of Xi'an, as well as local industrial base Baoji and Xianyang. They will focus on how Shaanxi is fitting into China's“Belt and Road” initiative and the new measures carried out by the local government to encourage free trade, build modern industrial chains and facilitate cultural prosperity.

Helene Masquelier, a French reporter at CRI, spoke on behalf of the foreign journalists at the opening ceremony. [Photo: China Plus]

CRI is promoting the event via its websites in 61 different languages, as well as international social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, CRI Online will offer multidimensional broadcasts of the progress of the event via its Weibo, WeChat, online live streaming, H5 page, drones and VR filming capabilities. It will also work with other state-level and provincial media organizations to show a new image of Shaanxi and further expand its reach and influence internationally.