Today marked a shot in the arm for international media operating in our neck of China’s woods, as efforts to raise our global profile were manifest through the opening of a new media centre to extol to the world the many virtues of Jiangsu Province.
It was this afternoon, 16 June, when the launch of the Jiangsu Now International Communication Centre (JICC) took place. An extension to JiangsuNow, JICC is operated by the Xinhua Daily Media Group.
With the theme of “Tell Jiangsu stories well to the world; spread well Jiangsu’s global image”, today’s guests were treated to all the razzamatazz that is the hallmark of launch events of this sort in China.
The bright lights and a high-impact video preceded an opening speech by Shuang Chuanxue, president of Xinhua Daily Media Group.
After the official proceedings, the launch was closed out with a round table discussion, at which were several guest experts, including Zhang Hongjun, Executive Director of the College of Journalism and Communications; and Zhu Feng, Executive Director of the School of International Relations, both at Nanjing University.
The experts shared their thoughts on how can media better spread China’s voice and actions, and to specifically answer the question as to how media in Jiangsu may better serve in that role?
The backdrop to today’s initiative is a call from China’s very top to work harder at bringing Chinese culture to the global stage. For us in Jiangsu, an area of concern is that, unlike in the USA, where people identify closely with their home state, local people here identify most with their city.
California, USA, is the most well known state (equivalent to a province in China) in the world, for a multitude of reasons, not least Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Disneyland, etc. Today marks the start of a mission for regional media here to try to emulate that for our very own Jiangsu.
Like this publication, JiangsuNow is an English-language media platform, but one with an emphasis on news and feature stories from across the province. Included therein are spotlights on investment, education, travel and living in Jiangsu, as well as interviews with foreigners for whom the Province is home, however temporarily.
