With the 2025 National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference approaching, Shanghai Radio and Television Station has launched a high-quality foreign propaganda documentary "China's Culture Journey".
The documentary "Literary China" presents China's 5,000-year-long and splendid civilization history and the vitality and vigor of China's excellent traditional culture in the new era to overseas audiences through the first-hand perspective of two foreign friends who traveled in China. The "Literary China" created entirely in English has a total of 4 episodes, each about 38 minutes long, and will be premiered on Dragon TV's "New Documentary" time slot every Tuesday at 22:00 starting from March 4.
The project is a 2024 "Recording the New Era" high-quality documentary project of the State Administration of Radio and Television, a major literary and artistic creation funding project of the Shanghai Culture Foundation, and is produced by Aoxue Studio of Shanghai Radio and Television Station Real Media Co., Ltd.
Poster of "Literary China"
Vividly present the cultural landscape of China in the new era
The documentary series "Cultural China" is produced under the guidance of the Propaganda Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television. It closely follows the core theme of Xi Jinping's cultural thoughts, and through the four themes of "Eternal Life", "Timeless Renewal", "Millennium Heritage" and "Harmony and Coexistence", it respectively shows the inheritance and continuation of China's excellent traditional culture, the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture in the new era, the inheritance and protection of China's intangible cultural heritage, and the exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.
The crew and two foreign visitors visited 16 cultural landmarks (9 of which are world cultural heritage sites), including the Liangzhu Ancient City in Hangzhou, the Grand Canal in Yangzhou, the Confucius Temple in Qufu, the Taoxichuan in Jingdezhen, Chaozhou in Guangdong, and Quanzhou in Fujian, spanning China from east to west, north to south, with a total journey of more than 20,000 kilometers.
These landmarks cover different types of cultural phenomena at multiple levels, including the Chinese Civilization Origin Exploration Project, the construction of national cultural parks, the restoration and protection of ancient buildings, the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, ethnic minority culture and rural revitalization, and the Global Civilization Initiative. At the same time, attention was also paid to a series of annual cultural activities, such as the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the 25th anniversary of Macau's return to the motherland.
Liangzhu, Zhejiang
Foreign visitors check in at cultural landmarks on China Travel
It is worth noting that this time "Literary China" invited two foreign visitors to travel in depth in China in the popular #China Travel format: one is Daniel Newham, a British man who has lived in China for 25 years and is a deep lover of Chinese culture; the other is Cleo Luden, a French girl, who is an online video blogger and has studied Chinese in France since she was 10 years old. She is now a graduate student at the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
The two foreign friends participated in the tour of cultural landmarks as cultural explorers, using selfie-style mobile devices such as pocket3 to increase the sense of presence and interactivity, and communicated sincerely with Chinese cultural experts, bloggers and ordinary people at close range, explaining and promoting more excellent cultures with Chinese characteristics, reflecting the Chinese spirit and containing Chinese wisdom to the world.
Quanzhou, Fujian
Integration of culture and tourism, feeling the vitality and vigor of cities and villages
In terms of presentation, the documentary "Cultural China" captures the cultural essence of different regions and combines culture with tourism. While introducing Chinese culture to overseas audiences, it also showcases the social outlook and vitality of China's cities and villages today.
In Macau, the guide and the expert started a city walk, during which they saw the protection of the historical districts by the Macau Special Administrative Region Government and the love of the local culture by the younger generation of Macau citizens. In Jingdezhen Taoxichuan, two "foreigners" revealed to us the secret of the millennium kiln fire by sharing the process of artistic creation in China's porcelain capital. In Guizhou, the intangible cultural heritage Miao embroidery is combined with the popular "Village BA" competition on the Internet, allowing China's vast western region to be presented to the world in a more diverse form. In Shanghai, eastern China, a musical created by a team from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and China premiered successfully on the banks of the Huangpu River, showing the unique artistic charm of Shanghai, an international cultural metropolis.
The documentary "Literary China" extracts and displays the spiritual symbols and cultural essence of Chinese civilization through vivid visual images, allowing overseas audiences to feel the vigorous vitality of Chinese culture and presenting the unique spiritual world of the Chinese people to the world.
Macau Ruins of St. Paul's
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi
It is reported that the four-episode documentary series "Literary China" will premiere on Dragon TV's "New Documentary" time slot every Tuesday at 22:00 starting from March 4, and will be broadcast simultaneously on new media such as the Dragon TV APP, Youku, Tencent, iQiyi, and Bilibili. In early April, "Literary China" will be broadcast globally on CGTN English News Channel and multiple overseas platforms such as Phoenix TV.
