The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that we should speed up the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system, tell Chinese stories well, spread Chinese voices well, and present a credible, lovely and respectable image of China. As a visual expression of real life, documentaries have unique cultural appeal. They are an important means and carrier to enhance the dissemination and influence of Chinese civilization, carry out international dissemination of Chinese culture and the style of the times, and contribute oriental wisdom to the world. With the continuous improvement of China's international status, the need to tell Chinese stories well through documentaries is even more urgent. Therefore, it has both important practical significance and long-term historical significance to present China's long history and culture, rapidly developing economy and technology, vivid and interesting daily life, and convey China's mainstream values and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind with excellent documentaries.

"China on the Move" poster

Recently, there have been many good news in the field of international communication of documentaries. The Chinese-English bilingual series of micro-documentary "Beijing Taste" produced by the Beijing Municipal Government Information Office was launched, showing Beijing's great achievements around the theme of "What kind of capital to build? How to build a capital", which aroused heated discussions among audiences at home and abroad. The English version of the second season of "China on the Move" produced by Shanghai Radio and Television and Discovery landed on the Discovery international platform in several major countries and regions during the weekend. 70.6% and 103.75% of the data. Summarizing the successful experience of these cases, we found that to promote the construction of international communication capacity of documentaries, we need to build a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional communication content system, combine new media to innovate communication forms, expand communication platforms, and segment international audiences, so that the international communication of Chinese documentaries will be more in-depth. Comprehensive and accurate.

Showing a China full of modern civilization, three-dimensional and mobile

From the 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, the Chinese stories told by Chinese documentaries to the world were more directed to the fields of history, culture, wildlife and natural landscapes. Among them, excellent documentaries such as "Silk Road" and "Looking at the Great Wall" have gained far-reaching influence overseas. In 2011, the CCTV Documentary Channel was launched, and it has become a broadcast platform for documentaries at home and abroad. The content involved in the international dissemination of Chinese documentaries is constantly expanding, covering Chinese food and folk culture, Chinese traditional and modern art, Chinese technology and economic development, Chinese society and daily life, etc. With the increasingly rich themes of documentaries, China's national image is also increasingly full and vivid. What overseas audiences see is no longer an ancient, single, static image of China constructed only by traditional culture and magnificent landscapes, but more and more a three-dimensional, flowing China full of modern civilization.

"Looking at the Great Wall" poster

The fields involved in Chinese documentaries present a multi-dimensional pattern, gradually breaking the stereotypes about China created by the Western media. Overseas audiences not only want to understand the macro development of modern China, but also are curious about the living conditions of ordinary Chinese. In a sense, it is the countless vivid and delicate individual images that finally converge into the image of the country. For example, "The Daily Life of Chinese Police" starts with the ordinary stories of ordinary police officers in life, duty, and law enforcement, and expresses the selfless dedication, dedication and hard work of the contemporary Chinese police groups with real and close images and fast-paced stories. Appearance, seeing the big from the small, let many overseas audiences feel the positive and enterprising spirit of the Chinese people. Therefore, Chinese documentaries should further adjust the proportion and composition of international communication content, and create a three-dimensional China with richer layers and more diverse features.

"Wuhan War Epidemic" title

The discourse system of the international dissemination of Chinese documentaries not only looks inward, but also casts its vision to the world. When the new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out, China International Television produced and broadcast the documentary "Wuhan Epidemic Chronicle" to the world. The film received 18 million views, more than 190,000 likes, and nearly 30,000 comments. In the film, overseas audiences not only saw the major issues of common concern, but also saw the courage and wisdom of the Chinese people in the face of difficulties and pain, and had deep resonance and deep respect. This documentary allows overseas audiences to appreciate the remarkable efforts made by the Communist Party of China to seek happiness for the Chinese people by upholding the tenet of the supremacy of life and the people. It can be seen that Chinese documentaries should face the world, based on Chinese history and culture and Chinese modern practice, to convey profound Chinese wisdom to the world, and to contribute Chinese solutions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Construct rational communication with authenticity, humility and balance

In the past ten years, the creative concepts and narrative methods of Chinese documentaries have continued to evolve at an accelerated pace. Many works have innovative perspectives and enhance the persuasive power of international communication of Chinese culture. For example, "China's Poverty Alleviation" comprehensively introduces China's "targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty alleviation" with a foreigner's perspective and a narrative approach close to overseas audiences, showing that the Chinese Communist Party is really concerned about the survival and development of ordinary people, and arousing widespread resonance among overseas audiences. "Heroes everywhere in the evening smoke - tribute to the people who fight against poverty" presents the daily work and life of the grassroots cadres of poverty alleviation. Their silent dedication and dedication have impressed and moved overseas audiences. In explaining and promoting the excellent culture that embodies the Chinese spirit and contains Chinese wisdom to the world, Chinese documentaries are constantly innovating and innovating. In order to adapt to the fragmented communication characteristics of the new media era, "If National Treasures Can Talk" tells the stories of national treasures and cultural relics in the form of a micro-documentary, traces Chinese history and civilization through cultural relics, and uses three-dimensional image technology to present the details of cultural relics. The national treasure's "opening" narration is loved by overseas audiences; "Tea, the Story of a Leaf" presents the complex roasting process of Chinese tea, and explores the different cultural backgrounds that Chinese tea has taken root and nourished around the world; "I repair cultural relics in the Forbidden City" "Shows the excellent traditional Chinese culture by showing the process of the restoration of cultural relics, which has aroused the strong interest of overseas young people.

"I repair cultural relics in the Forbidden City" title

The carrier of documentaries to convey facts is moving images, which is the essence that documentaries should always uphold and keep looking back on. Taking into account the acceptance preferences of the younger generation of overseas audiences, Chinese documentaries continue to innovate visual expressions and use cutting-edge video language to spread to the world. For example, "Wuhan War Epidemic" not only follows an objective and stern documentary style, but also combines pioneering film expression methods, so that overseas audiences can feel the power of China in the video text with cutting-edge temperament; some short documentary videos use quiet and beautiful pastoral style images Carrying the Chinese wisdom of "harmony between man and nature", it soothes the modernity anxiety of the global audience. These works report facts in a true, modest and balanced manner, construct rational communication, enhance the trust of overseas audiences, and facilitate the effective transmission of Chinese culture.

Reach overseas audiences through multiple channels, from satellite TV, online platforms to social media

The types of Chinese documentaries that tell Chinese stories overseas have shown a diversified trend. In addition to the traditional interpretive feature film mode, there are also forms such as short videos. The creative method is also more flexible, with modes such as independent production and Chinese-foreign co-production. The main body of creation has also expanded from mainstream official media and production companies to personal content producers of self-media. It is particularly noteworthy that the international dissemination of Chinese documentaries has rapidly and extensively expanded from traditional satellite TV and online platforms to social media platforms. Documentaries produced by China's official media such as China International Television and CCTV Documentary Channel, as well as short documentary videos created by We Media rely on overseas social media platforms to reach overseas audiences through different channels, showing the overseas communication energy of documentaries that should not be underestimated.

In the context of the Internet age, Chinese documentaries should focus on the macro layout. On the one hand, they should continue to consolidate traditional content production and dissemination, and on the other hand, they should actively develop dissemination subjects, dissemination contents, dissemination forms and dissemination channels with the characteristics of new media. This multi-channel nature has given Chinese documentaries the opportunity to spread exponentially. How to seize this historical opportunity is a topic worthy of attention at present.

Another important issue corresponding to it is to have a deep understanding of the target audience for the international dissemination of Chinese documentaries. How to make overseas audiences more interested, so that they can connect Chinese documentaries with themselves, and then actively seek, search and watch, the key lies in understanding the needs of overseas audiences. The audiences around the world are massive and complex, with very different cognitions, attitudes and emotions towards China, as well as different cultural backgrounds and appreciation interests. Respond to target audience segmentation, create targeted creations, and improve communication effectiveness in a more precise way. Although overseas audiences show extremely complex aspects, they still have commonalities, such as concern for individual living conditions, observation of emotions in life encounters, and curiosity about the daily life of others. Searching for content that can arouse the emotional resonance of overseas audiences will enable the dissemination of Chinese documentaries to break through existing barriers and reach the hearts of audiences more directly and deeply. At the same time, it is also very important to actively explore the influence of Chinese documentaries in overseas communication and to build a scientific evaluation system for the international communication of Chinese documentaries. This will help to evaluate the effectiveness of the dissemination of Chinese documentaries, and also provide reference and reference for the creation of Chinese documentaries from the perspective of the audience.

At present, we should fully understand the advantages and necessity of documentaries to tell Chinese stories well, expand the dimensions and vision of documentaries, continue to innovate the methods and concepts of documentaries, spread documentaries overseas through multiple channels and subjects, and conduct an in-depth study of the overseas spread of Chinese documentaries. Influence and viewing preferences of overseas audiences, play the historical mission of telling Chinese stories well, highlighting the soft power of Chinese culture, enhancing China's international discourse power, and spreading the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.

(The author is an associate professor at South-Central University for Nationalities. This article was originally published in the 15th edition of "Guangming Daily" on November 2, 2022. The article is a phased achievement of the National Social Science Fund Project "Research on the Influence and Strategy of International Communication of Chinese Documentary in the New Era". )