Culture important channel for people-to-people exchanges: CPC delegate

A China Radio International (CRI) director and delegate to the 19th CPC National Congress suggests telling more cultural stories in global communication.

The press center of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) holds a group interview on cultural development in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 20, 2017. Liu Yuzhu (2nd L), head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Song Baozhen (3rd L), head of the Drama Research Institute of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Meng Guanglu (3rd R), vice president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Peking Opera performing artist, Wang Xiaojie (2nd R), director of the Beijing Bureau of China Central Television, and Xia Yongmin (1st R), director of the West Asian and African Center of China Radio International, received the group interview. [Photo: China Plus]

Xia Yongmin, director of CRI's West Asian and African Center, offered suggestions on intercultural communication at a press conference on cultural development at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing.

Xia Yongmin, director of the West Asian and African Center of CRI and delegate to the 19th CPC National Congress, at a press conference on cultural development held during the 19th CPC National Congress in Beijing on Friday, October 20, 2017. [Photo: China Plus]

Xia said that culture is not only an important channel for people-to-people exchanges, but also good content products for external broadcast.

He cites the example of Chinese TV drama series "Mao Doudou and Her Sweet Days", a 36-episode light comedy about a young Chinese couple and their relationship with their in-laws.  The drama series went viral in Tanzania after being dubbed in Swahili by his CRI colleagues and aired in the African country.

Xia said that stories containing distinctive cultural messages are an effective means to help one understand the values of a foreign country and its people as well as acknowledge the reasons why they have chosen their path and current social system.

Wang Dongmei, Secretary of the Secretariat of All-China Journalists Association, chats with Xia Yongmin at the press center of the 19th CPC National Congress in Beijing on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. [Photo: China Plus]