On the evening of August 21, the launching ceremony of the 2023 "Rediscovery Tour of Beijing" event was unveiled on the banks of the Liangma River in Beijing. This event was hosted by the Information Office of Beijing Municipality, organized by CRI Online of China Media Group and co-organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Chaoyang District Committee. Xu Hejian, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Director of Information Office of Beijing Municipality, and Fan Jianping, President of CRI Online of China Media Group attended the launching ceremony and delivered speeches.

With the theme of "Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing: Decade's Milestones in Chinese Path to Modernization", this event is participated by influencers from Serbia, Romania, Austria, Thailand, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe and other countries. The intention is to promote cultural exchanges, and show the world how Beijing has developed along with the Chinese path to modernization.

Guests and influencers jointly launch the event.

Xu Hejian said in his speech that the "Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing" event is part of Beijing's implementation plan for the Belt and Road Initiative. Since 2016, the event has been held nine times in the past eight years, attracting a total of 111 international influencers from 49 countries along the Belt and Road to show Beijing's openness, friendliness, prosperity and self-confidence to the world.

Xu pointed out that Beijing adheres to high-quality development, which can be evidenced by the fact that it is the first megacity in the country to restrain and rationalize its development, and that it is also the first city to achieve high-quality development while restraining its resource consumption. Beijing has ranked among the top city rankings at home and abroad, especially in the aspects of science and technology, emerging enterprise cultivation environment, smart city index, urban entrepreneurship incubation index and others. Beijing attaches great importance to innovation, building three national laboratories in Zhongguancun, Changping and Huairou to high standards. The number of state-level high-tech enterprises, unicorn enterprises and specialized and special new enterprises ranks first in the country, and has made it to one of the top three of the world's top 100 science and technology clusters, according to a report by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Beijing has vigorously promoted the protection, development and utilization of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the Great Wall Cultural Belt and the Xishan Yongding River Cultural Belt, and carried out the world's largest and most effective urban renewal on the basis of the protection of old cities. Beijing adheres to the green transition. It completed air quality control in ten years, and was hailed as the "Beijing Miracle" by the United Nations Environment Programme, with a forest coverage rate of 44.8 percent and 1,050 parks of various types, which makes it a green city surrounded by blue water and lush forests.

Xu Hejian, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Director of the Information Office of Beijing Municipality, delivers a speech.

Fan Jianping said in his speech that the "Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing" has opened a window for the world to understand Beijing and the Chinese path to modernization. This event will lead everyone to have a deeper appreciation of Beijing's unique charm and infinite wonder, and fully understand the present and past of this ancient capital.

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

Ioan Budura, former Editor-in-Chief of the Department of Culture, Radio Romania and a famous sinologist, spoke on behalf of foreign influencers. He said that this event would provide him with rich and substantial materials and ideas for telling Chinese stories, and he believed that this trip would definitely be fruitful.

Ioan Budura, former Editor-in-Chief of the Department of Culture, Radio Romania and a famous sinologist, delivers his speech.

This year's "Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing" will last from August 21 to 26. During the event, the influencers will visit the Beijing Municipal Service Center, Chaowai Street Community Service Center, Beijing Stock Exchange, Daxing International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone, "Two Zones" Meeting Room of Beijing Municipal Administrative Center and other places to learn about Beijing's construction achievements in the past ten years since the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative, and experience for themselves the practice of the Chinese path to modernization in Beijing.

(Source: CRI Online)