On air & ears

China Radio International (CRI), official broadcasting agency of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) is celebrating 70th anniversary of its successful transmission. Established as Xinhua radio station in YANAN, northwestern China on December 03, 1940, CRI in its long journey has acted as a skylight on New China, besides being witness to the rise of an Asian superpower. After its relocation to Beijing, CRI has the unique honour of announcing dawn of New China on October 1, 1949.

Introducing China Radio International

It was April 1951, when CRI was renamed as Radio Peking and served as the official overseas broadcaster of PRC. Radio Peking in its formative years added additional languages including Russian, French, German, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Kiswahili and Arabic to its transmissions to promote relations between new republic and rest of the world. Its portfolio had risen to 38 foreign languages by mid 1970s and played a crucial role as a bridge between China and outside world. With changing times, it also changed its nomenclature and renamed to Radio Beijing; however, in 1993, it got its present name China Radio International (CRI). As its name indicates, CRI is global in its outlook and broadcasts coverage of national and international affairs around the globe however, it is also an international media organisation that uses the most languages in its coverage of both national and international affairs amounting over 1500 hours per day. To better cover news events taking place elsewhere in the world, CRI began to establish overseas correspondent bureaus in 1980. The first two were set up in Tokyo and Belgrade. At present, CRI has 32 overseas bureaus across the world and dispatched over 400 correspondents. Representing CRI outside China, these correspondent bureaus are based in major cities with the mission of covering all its surrounding areas. CRI correspondents are always in the forefront of every breaking story to send back updated first-hand reports.

Building overseas bureaus

CRI also plans to build eight overseas regional bureaus in Europe, America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and Middle East. These regional bureaus will be the representative organisations of CRI in the respective continents and regions and will be responsible for the management and coordination of its overseas correspondents, and will oversee news gathering, programming, distribution, international communication and promotion of Chinese language and culture. After China’s reforms in the late 1970s, more and more foreigners had come to China for study, work, travel or business. In order to provide them with a better understanding of China, in 1986, CRI began offering domestic services with the launch of the English Channel, Easy FM-produced by its English Service-EASY. FM can be heard in major cities throughout China and is a favorite radio station with expatriates and English lovers in China. While dedicating itself to the reporting of both domestic and world events, CRI has also sponsored a variety of activities to promote friendship and cultural exchanges between China and other countries. No doubt that music is a language that can transcend geographical boundaries. Last year, to mark the Sino-Vietnam Friendship Year, CRI hosted a singing contest for both Chinese and Vietnamese singers by collaborating with major Vietnamese media outlets. More than 300 Chinese and Vietnamese singers participated in the contest.

Strengthening Sino-Pakistan diplomatic ties

The year 2011 marks the 60th anniversary of Sino-Pakistan diplomatic ties-CRI organised a reporting trip along Pakistan’s Indus river in May. The excursion included 20 reporters from CRI and other major Chinese media groups. This trip was very successful as mentioned by CRI Deputy Director-General, Madam Wang Dong Wei, while meeting with the writer in Islamabad. She described the trip a successful journey and said that during exploring the civilisations along the river Indus, she found that Pakistan is a beautiful country and its people are very friendly and have showed a lot of love and respect for China. She said that they would be delighted when Pakistani media delegation will visit China and explore Chinese civilisation along the river Yangtze, as this will be a unique opportunity to enhance people-to-people interaction and further strengthen the friendship ties. CRI delegation during their twelve days trip covered some 5,000 kilometers along the river Indus and produced hundreds of reports presenting a comprehensive picture of Pakistan. Similarly, at the invitation of CRI, a team of Pakistani journalists from major media groups will soon start their tour of the Yangtze river in China and will inform the people of Pakistan about their experiences.

Broadening language horizons

CRI after decades of growth has developed into one of the world’s major international broadcasters, both in terms of the number of languages and the quantity of programmes transmitted. Today, CRI broadcasts in 61 foreign languages across the world; the highest number of languages among all international electronic media. It aims to introduce China to the rest of the world, and vice versa, report global affairs to the world, and enhance understanding and friendship between Chinese and people of other countries. In recent years, CRI has followed its strategic goal of establishing a modern international broadcasting system and continuously improving the quality of its overseas broadcasts. Based on its traditional shortwave radio, CRI has vigorously promoted broadcasting programmes through overseas radio stations to reach more audiences. So far, CRI has set up 60 full-frequency FM or AM radio stations abroad, which broadcast in 41 languages. Their daily accumulated radio broadcasts now totals 1,200 hours and cover more than 60 countries and regions. In this edition of the show, we’ll bring you the final part of the listeners’ knowledge contest marking CRI’s 70th anniversary.

Establishing friendship through radio

Establishing friendship through radio is common for all 61 language departments in CRI. Letters and gifts displayed in the radio station’s exhibition hall stand as proof, which are rich and colourful tokens of love. A scarlet silk banner frequently catches people’s eyes. “The gifts are from various listeners from Pakistan like other countries of the world, are displayed in Urdu Service First Asian Broadcasting Department Area apart from main reception area of CRI headquarters, which shows the attachment of listeners with CRI and CRI’s honour to their well wishers.” Listeners’ support for China Radio International is not just limited to gifts and letters. Over the past seven decades, they’ve voluntarily organised listeners’ clubs. Since 1961, the first listeners’ club, Beijing Radio Listeners’ Club, was founded in Japan. CRI’s listeners crossed five continents and have established a total of 3,165 overseas listeners’ clubs. The smallest clubs have dozens of members while big ones boast of thousands. They gather to share their experiences listening to CRI’s radio programmes, exchange knowledge about China and organise cultural exchange activities. In Pakistan, CRI listeners are actively working for the promotion of CRI programmes, since establishment of Urdu service in 1966; this year it was 45th anniversary of Urdu service and was celebrated across Pakistan in befitting manners. CRI also appreciates the listeners’ participation at club level and their reports were also acknowledged properly. Like Urdu service of CRI, present Incharge Ms Zhao Qiao (Mahvesh-her Urdu/Pakistani name), along with CRI Pakistan Bureau Office Reports, Ms Sun Lingli and Ms Wang Qainting (Ms Musrat-her Pakistani name) are actively working for the promotion of CRI and its objective to successfully enhance CRI-China education and social and cultural interaction programme.

Strengthening relations with listeners

To strengthen a bond with listeners, CRI has organised knowledge contests on various themes. Many listeners have been awarded prize trips to China. CRI staff and their overseas listeners are like members of a huge, but close family. While conveying the voice of China to different parts of the globe, CRI is also transmitting the message of friendship to people worldwide through the radio waves. With the joint efforts of its entire staff, CRI shows to its listeners that despite the geographical distances and their different ethnical and cultural backgrounds, the world becomes small to people who belong to CRI’s extended family. CRI has promoted its strategic adjustment by incorporating all means of mass communications—radio, television, newspapers, internet and mobile phone. In 1998, CRI began its online broadcasting service by setting up CRI online website. This internet communication platform offers news and information in a large number of languages among major international media. By logging onto the website, people can listen to CRI programmes anytime, anywhere and find all kinds of information about China. Now, the website’s visitors come from over 180 counties and regions. To help its listeners learn the Chinese language and culture, in December 2007, CRI established the first Confucius Institute on the Air, offering a long-distance Chinese teaching mechanism via CRI’s multilingual international broadcasting network. Until now, CRI has set up 12 on-air Confucius institutes in different countries, allowing its global listeners to learn Chinese in their mother tongues. In January 2011, CRI launched China International Broadcasting Network or CIBN, in Beijing. It is a significant development for CRI in the field of new media. Based on CRI online and featuring 61 languages, CIBN is a multilingual and multi-terminal broadcast organisation that caters to audiences worldwide. The network is a convergence of websites, online broadcasting, network television and a mobile service terminal; all of which are multilingual. With the motto “Introduce China to the world, introduce the world to China, report everything in the world,” the network serves as a new platform for CRI’s global audiences to learn more about China and the world.
While congratulating CRI on auspicious occasion of its 70th Anniversary, it will not be out of place to mention the vital role played by Urdu service in people to people interaction among Chinese and Pakistani public since 1966. We wish CRI all the best and success in years to come.

The writer is President Radio China Listener’s Club and Secretary Pakistan-China Friendship Association-Khyber. He can be reached at [email protected]