Liu Yanping Believes "Charming Beijing" TV Series Empowers Improvement of International Communication and Governance

"I believe that we have made innovation in the 'Charming Beijing' TV series project, especially in the overseas publicity and governance as well as the improvement of governance capacity," said Liu Yanping, Director of the Urban and Real Estate Economics Research Laboratory of the National Academy of Economic Strategy, China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He offered professional comments in an interview for the "Charming Beijing" Overseas Communication Achievements Exhibition and the 2023 Launch Ceremony of "Charming Beijing" TV Series on February 27.

According to Liu, "Charming Beijing" TV series has empowered the overall improvement of China's international communication and governance effectively. "We have encouraged and invited people from the government, enterprises, social organizations, industry associations, foreign embassies and consulates in China, and Chinese embassies and consulates, as well as foreign nationals of the same trade or occupation to join hands for the project. It is a process that the international communication and governance is well improved," said Liu.

For Liu, the project has made a significant breakthrough as it shifts its focus from the macro view to the individual and micro perspective. "We got used to telling stories from a macro perspective and a broad vision in our international communication in the past. But now we turn to a relatively micro view and focus on individuals to unfold Beijing's charm in the eyes of our foreign friends," noted Liu. Based on individuals' experiences, the TV series offered both detailed and overall perspectives to make the publicity event easy to approach and win people's popularity.

Besides, "Charming Beijing" TV series was considered to be a practical way to better tell the world the stories of China. "We realize that if we want to tell our country's stories well, we can tell good stories of our cities first. The stories concerning economy, innovation, and culture in every Chinese city are all good sources of China's stories and good examples representing China," said Liu.

As mentioned by Liu, "Charming Beijing" TV series has played a unique role in forming the urban image of Beijing. With a focus on the micro view of individuals, it enables audiences to have an in-depth understanding of the city and helps them be familiar with its urban image. He also believed that "Charming Beijing" TV series made great progress in the way of building an urban image. "We got used to defining and developing the image of a city on our own in the past. But now we complete the same task with audiences such as entrepreneurs, tourists, scholars, and government officials at home and abroad. Actually, it is a good channel to cooperate in creating the value of a city's image. In the era of the internet, it is particularly a vital way to establish the image of a city, especially in making the image more valuable. Beijing has done a good job to form its image," said Liu.

The "Charming Beijing" TV series project was sponsored by the Information Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and organized by CRI Online of China Media Group to strengthen cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. Since its first launch in 2019, the TV series project has invited production teams from ten countries, namely Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Russia, Japan, Serbia, Italy, Croatia, and the Republic of Korea to carry out interviews and video shooting in Beijing. The corresponding TV series has won popularity in the aforementioned countries after being available on their TV stations.