On February 27, the 2023 Launch Ceremony of "Charming Beijing" TV Series and Overseas Communication Achievements Exhibition kicked off at the Metaverse Experience Center of Beijing's Shougang Park, hosted by the Information Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and organized by CR I Online of China Media Group.

2023 Launch Ceremony of "Charming Beijing" TV Series

The "Charming Beijing" TV Series Overseas Production and Communication Project (hereinafter referred to as the "Project") is a joint effort of the Information Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and CRI Online of China Media Group aimed at enhancing cultural exchanges between China and other countries and regions around the globe. Since its debut in 2019, the Project has welcomed film crews from ten different countries (including Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Russia, Japan, Serbia, Italy, Croatia, and the Republic of Korea) to Beijing for filming and interviews, with the resulting episodes arousing considerable interest on local TV channels.

2022 was a year of successes marked by the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism, and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Croatia as well as between China and the Republic of Korea. To showcase a new era of development in China's capital city of Beijing toward the international community, the Project invited film crews from Italy, the Republic of Korea, and Croatia to hold interviews at a variety of places, including the Summer Palace, the Tongzhou section of the Grand Canal, the Yangmeizhu Xiejie Hutong, the Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum, the Capital Museum, the National Speed Skating Oval (i.e. the "Ice Ribbon"), the Metaverse Experience Center in Shougang Park, and Zhongguancun Software Park. It is hoped that through these efforts, more people around the world will come to understand and fall in love with Beijing.

Xu Hejian, Deputy Director-General of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Director of the Information Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, is delivering a speech.

In his speech, Xu Hejian expressed his belief in the ability of the TV series to convey the charm and diversity of Beijing, a dual Olympic city with a long history and rich cultural heritage. Xu also spoke of a desire to have film crews from more countries come and witness with their own eyes what an open, diverse, prosperous, and magnificent capital city Beijing was so that they could use the medium of video to share their experience objectively with others.

Fan Jianping, President of CRI Online of China Media Group, is delivering a speech.

Fan Jianping spoke of how CRI Online would continue to promote international communication, working together with like-minded people to tell Chinese stories with warmth and sincerity and introduce the charm and diversity of Beijing and China to the wider world.

At the event, representatives of film crews from Italy, Croatia, and the Republic of Korea teamed up with special guests to share the overseas communication achievements of the TV series around three themes.

Liu Kan, Consul-General of the Chinese Consulate-General in Milan, is delivering a speech.

Liu Pai, host of the Italian film crew and Italian-language host of China Media Group, is sharing stories.

Bisera Fabrio, Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in China, is delivering a speech.

Goran Durdevic, host of the Croatian film crew and lecturer at the Beiwai College of Beijing Foreign Studies University, is sharing his experience.

Kim Jin-gon, Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in China and Director of the Korean Cultural Center, is delivering a speech.

Kim Junbum, host of the South Korean film crew and Chairman of Beijing Hanbandao Technology Co., Ltd., is sharing his experience.

Zhou Ting, Dean of the School of Government and Public Affairs of the Communication University of China, is sharing her thoughts on the theme.

Alessandro Golombiewski Teixeira, Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University and former Minister of Tourism of Brazil, is sharing his thoughts on the theme.

Certificates are awarded to supporting organizations.

Co-production certificates are awarded to the film crews from Italy, Croatia, and the Republic of Korea.

At the event, certificates of support were awarded to 18 organizations, including the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, the Publicity and Culture Department of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area Work Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, and the publicity departments of the CPC committees of Dongcheng District, Xicheng District, Chaoyang District, Haidian District, and Tongzhou District among others. The film crews from Italy, Croatia, and the Republic of Korea received co-production certificates.

Xu Hejian, Fan Jianping, Kim Jin-gon, Bisera Fabrio, and Alessandro Golombiewski Teixeira came together at the event to officially declare the 2023 "Charming Beijing" TV Series Project under way. 

(Source: CRI Online)