Not long ago, Dragon TV's theory program "This Is China" ushered in its 200th episode, with the title "Chinese Civilization is Like a Star" to express the program's determination to start again from a new starting point.

Since being broadcast every Monday on Dragon TV at a fixed time slot on January 7, 2019, this innovative TV theory program has discussed hot and difficult political issues that are of concern to people at home and abroad in a novel style and international style. It broke the monopoly of Western discourse and used Chinese words to interpret the Chinese miracle. It won the recognition and welcome of a broad audience at home and abroad, and created a Shanghai example of cultural self-confidence and self-improvement. Known as "an exemplary practitioner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era".

How can Chinese TV theory programs continue to tell Chinese stories and spread Chinese voices?

On September 15, the 200th seminar on the TV theory program "This is China" was directed by the State Administration of Radio and Television and the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, sponsored by the Shanghai Radio and Television Bureau and Shanghai Radio and Television Station, and hosted by Dragon TV Center and Observer Network Held in Beijing. Experts and scholars from Beijing and Shanghai jointly reviewed the development history of China's TV theoretical programs and provided insights for "This Is China" to continue to tell Chinese stories and spread Chinese voices in the future.

Seminar site

Five years of “turning from defense to offense” conveyed China’s confidence

"This Is China" is hosted by Professor Zhang Weiwei, Dean of the China Institute at Fudan University, and He Jie serves as the host. With "international vision, original research, and first-class products" as its positioning, it gathers authoritative, well-founded, and knowledgeable With confident theoretical viewpoints and core concepts, we conduct in-depth research on representative, popular, and meaningful international events and social hot spots, and then output interactive, thoughtful, and valuable ideological and political content. Since its broadcast, it has been widely praised by audiences and the industry. recognized.

In 2022, "This Is China" won the Outstanding TV Literary Column Award at the 27th National Television Literary and Art "Starlight Awards". In addition, the program has also won the honorary title of "Advanced Group for Grassroots Theory Propaganda" by the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; "Annual Innovation and Excellence Program" and "Excellent Overseas Communication Work" by the State Administration of Radio and Television in 2019. The program also won the TV Column Award at the 30th "Shanghai News Awards" and was selected into the first batch of TV theory program support projects under the "Innovative Theory Communication Project" of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Leaders of the State Administration of Radio and Television affirmed the efforts of Shanghai Radio and Television Station in keeping integrity, innovation and high-quality development, and emphasized that TV media should make new contributions to popularizing and popularizing theoretical propaganda, especially to build the Chinese discourse system, and use excellent theories to The program has won the recognition of the Chinese system, Chinese theory, Chinese path, and Chinese culture from the broad audience, especially the younger generation of China.

Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy director of the Information Department, believes that "This Is China" has "historical depth, realistic dimension, and youthful perspective." The stimulating exchange of various views and positions established a clear direction of public opinion. It also captured what young people were thinking and answered their confusions. She said she looked forward to the program making more useful explorations in understanding the "two combinations" and continuously enhancing its international communication capabilities.

Shen Jun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shanghai Radio and Television Station and Shanghai Culture, Radio, Film and Television Group Co., Ltd., said that "This Is China" has spent nearly five years delivering a dazzling "answer to the times." "This Is China" will take the 200th episode as an opportunity to "turn from defense to offense" in the future and further enhance the depth and breadth of topics in the propaganda and ideological position. On the one hand, the program will expand the "circle of friends", invite more heavyweight guests, and create a high-end theoretical think tank for the program brand; on the other hand, "This Is China" will also make strides to "go out" and enter universities, communities, and enterprises. , so that the spirit of the 20th National Congress can arouse empathy and resonate among the grassroots people.

"This is China" poster

Explore "Practice a good discourse combination punch"

"This Is China" has gone through 200 issues. What kind of experience and thinking has the main creative team accumulated? At the seminar, the creative team, experts and scholars spoke one after another, describing the creative path in their eyes. Jin Zhongwei, editor-in-chief of Observer.com and senior new media communicator, said that the wonderful Chinese stories have made the program "This Is China" possible, and the careful production of Zhang Weiwei's team and Dragon TV's program team has also made this media integrated development possible. story of creation.

Kong Dan, former chairman of CITIC Group and chairman of the CITIC Reform Research Foundation, recalled the experience of "This Is China" holding its first expert seminar in November 2019. He believed that the program always had a learning mentality and consciously summarized successful experiences. Explore the direction of our efforts and truly have China in mind and the world in mind.

Leng Song, a researcher at the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed the success of "This Is China" from multiple perspectives such as television art, content selection, innovative expression, and matrix communication. He believes that "This Is China" is open, diverse and inclusive, and while gathering "the A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains in the academic world", it also builds a theoretical field that "young people can understand and ordinary people can understand". With the joint efforts of many parties, the program is not only a cradle for exchanges and mutual learning of Chinese and Western philosophical ideas, but also a classroom for improving the cognitive abilities of contemporary youth. Li Shimo, director of the Advisory Committee of the China Institute of Fudan University, who has been deeply involved in the program since its inception, recalled every detail of the program from its inception in 2018 to the present, and highly praised the program's development for keeping up with the changes of the times.

As the keynote speaker of "This Is China", Professor Zhang Weiwei summarized the successful experience of this program from four perspectives: why it is done, why it is popular, how to position the theoretical program, and why it is necessary to use discourse combinations. "The so-called timing is We are in an era of "great changes unseen in a century". The changing era calls for ideas and interpretations of China's various changes. Therefore, our program came into being. The so-called geographical advantage means that we are in China, which is rapidly moving towards the center of the world stage. , located in the international metropolis Shanghai at the forefront of China's reform and opening up. The so-called "harmony" means close cooperation between all parties and strong support from leaders at all levels. For the China Institute of Fudan University, this program is the practice of the national high-end think tank' The successful exploration of theoretical innovation, public opinion guidance, and social service's mission."

Many expert leaders attending the meeting also agreed that "This Is China" was born in Shanghai, an important window for the world to observe China. Its breakthrough not only benefited from the living soil of reform and innovation, but also was the result of Shanghai Radio and Television Station's continuous exploration of integration, transformation and development. . Future programs must strive to explain the "future" clearly. We must also actively tell the "original" well; we must have a clear-cut stand, convince people with reason, have the majesty of a big country and the feelings of a big country, and use a good combination of words to spread China's story and China's voice wider, farther, and louder.

"This is China" poster

Resonating with the younger generation

From the trinity of school media and enterprises, to the high degree of coordination between local and television networks, to the resonance of internal and external networks on the same frequency... In the past five years since its broadcast, "This Is China" has innovatively communicated and created a three-dimensional, comprehensive and complete communication chain.

As of now, the cumulative views of "This Is China" on Station B have exceeded 110 million, the number of subscriptions has reached 1.265 million, and the number of likes has exceeded 1.363 million. The program has 1.846 million fans on the Douyin platform, with a total of 1,772 works published and a total of over 580 million views. The program was launched on the official channel of Dragon TV on YouTube, covering more than 1.2 billion viewers in 196 countries and regions, with a total of more than 77.654 million views, a total viewing time of more than 24.816 million hours, and a total of more than 1.543 million likes.

As Leng Sang described it, the "This Is China" long video program itself is a "submachine gun" and the short video content is a "bullet." The four terminals of TV, Internet, social platforms, and short video platforms are linked together to form a comprehensive media representation of Chinese views. The matrix propagation of the body achieves the same frequency resonance with the younger generation.

Regarding the future development of the program, the participating experts expressed their opinions. Fang Ning, a researcher at the Institute of Political Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that to tell Chinese stories well, we must not only dig deep into cultural stories that reflect life and appeal to both refined and popular tastes, but also extensively understand and study the "Chinese stories" spread abroad, and we must also pay attention to seeking truth from facts and being objective. , tell the Chinese story comprehensively.

Jin Canrong, a professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, said that the success of "This Is China" is inseparable from the solid cultural confidence of the creative team. He looks forward to presenting more content in the future that can enhance the audience's confidence and spirit.

Ding Yifan, a researcher at the World Development Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, also suggested that the program could have more sharing from overseas guests to visually present the impact of Chinese modernization on the world. Zheng Ruolin, a senior reporter at "Wen Wei Po" and a researcher at the China Institute of Fudan University, expressed his hope to see a multilingual version of "This Is China" and related book series so that audiences, listeners and readers around the world can understand the voice of China.

Experts attending the meeting unanimously affirmed that "This Is China" has created a new model of TV ideological and political commentary programs in a sense, creating a new model for Chinese discourse to directly reach society, young people, and the world. It also created a new model of ideological and political commentary. A new model of political education.

Facing the encouragement and affirmation of experts and scholars, Zhang Weiwei said: "Practice has proved that we can win the discourse battle between China and the West, and can effectively promote Chinese discourse to society and influence society, and to the world and influence the world."