Media and Image of China Discussed at Weiming Lecture Hall(39969)

Peking University. Beijing. Sep 29, 2009: How to create an authentic and appealing image of China? How to make the voice of Chinese media heard across the world? How can overseas Chinese establish an image of the country and demonstrate the national identity more effectively? The "Weiming Lecture Hall-Face to Face with Famous Journalists, Hosts and Specialists" cultural forum, with "Nation","Image" and "Media" as keywords, was held on the afternoon of September 27. People from the academia, government and major domestic media joined the forum, sharing their latest research findings and practical experiences.

Yang He, vice-secretary of CPC PKU Committee, delivered the opening address at the forum. He expressed his appreciation of the forum's opening at this special moment when China was approaching her 60^th birthday. He also addressed the significance of discussing the future of the nation from perspectives of "Nation", "Image" and "Media". He pointed out the mission of the media to foster a better understanding of China for the rest of the world and expressed his confidence that the meeting would help promote this mission.

Professor Yu Hong from Peking University emphasized the importance of understanding the essence of mass communication, which has its own laws, approaches and language. She argued that only by transforming propaganda to communication, integrating propaganda into communication and employing the methods and language of communication in the image building of our country, can we gain our voice in the global communication. She also casted her doubts on the popular view "the more ethnical, the more global" by illustrating facts that the cultural exchange would work better to be started with similarities of different cultures rather than differences.

Besides, Professor Liu Xu from China Media University shared his findings of the research on "Chinese Media Overseas and the Soft Power of China". And Professor Guan Shijie elucidated the relations between intercultural communication and the image of the nation.

Apart from voices from academia, officials in charge of media in China expressed their points on media and national image building as well. The director of the 7^th department of the National Information Office Dong Yunhu stated that the mission of media is to grasp the opportunities created by the financial crisis and to transfer the strength of growth to international communication power.

Zhu Hong, the press spokesman and Director of The State Administration of Radio and Television, reviewed the latest changes of China s communication development overseas. Lu Xiaohua, a senior reporter and deputy director in Xinhua Radio and Television Center also strongly advocated using comprehensible language and forms when conveying ideas to international audience.

Moreover, special guests, Ms FangLi Bangqin and Mr Xu Songhua expressed their views from the perspective of "Overseas Chinese and Image of China Shaping". FangLi, founder of Asian Week and The Independent News, and president of the board of Pan-Asian Investment Group Limited, viewed every overseas Chinese as a representative for China abroad and their behaviors and performance formed the image of China. On the other hand, the overseas Chinese also rely on the strength of China. And Mr Xu illustrated how overseas Chinese in Spain had contributed to building the reputation of China through their hardwork and kindness.

The forum is an extended program of "Weiming Lecture Hall-Face to Face with Famous Journalists, Hosts and Specialists", which has been held for 4 years by Television Research Center of Peking University and is aimed at promoting the understanding of top issues of society, culture, art or media by providing a platform for academics, business people and celebrities in media to gather together, have open discussions, exchange ideas and inspire fresh insights.