Documentary on Xi’s national governing philosophy gets Asia-Pacific exposure
By Ni Tao, Li Feng, Yu Yichun and Xu Wei from People’s Daily
A three-episode documentary that introduces Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ideas on national governance had its debut on the Discovery Channel on Monday as the first time for international media at this level to broadcast a TV series giving a systematic interpretation of the leader’s governing philosophy.
The broadcast of “China: Time of Xi” started last Saturday and ran for three consecutive days on Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, reaching over 200 million people in 37 countries and regions, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
Film production was supervised by Vikram Channa, vice-president of Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, and a veteran British TV producer, Liz Mcleod. Production team members were mainly from the US, UK, the Netherlands, India, Singapore and China.
The documentary includes interviews with a number of world-renowned experts and scholars, including former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, US scholar Robert Kuhn, UK scholar Martin Jacques, director Zheng Yongnian of the East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore, and Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo.
The TV series offers in-depth interpretation on China’s development path, ideas, and inspirations for the world.
“I can assure you I would not want to wake up as president of China, when 1.4 billion people are expecting their lives to be improved,” Moyo commented in the film. This is very challenging, she added.
Xi Jinping era is based on building a different kind of economy of innovation, moving up the value chain, using new kind of technologies, said Jacques.
Rudd also hailed China’s progress, saying that the Chinese government has lifted 600 million people out of poverty since the launch of reform and opening up policy.
The documentary provides stories about poverty alleviation, health care reforms, education and high-speed rail development, as well as supply-side structural reforms, technological innovation and environmental protection, along with the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, the construction of Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, and China-Europe freight trains.
Xi’s visit to Australia in 2014 is described, especially to the state of Tasmania, as very important since it brought global attention to this remote area, says Jan Everett, vice-president of the Australia-ChinaFriendship Society, who adds that Tasmania “reappeared” on the world map after his visit.
China’s high-speed rail successes, shown in the documentary, are commented on by Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technology University, who says, “High-speed rail is my first choice of transportation for trips between cities in China,” then adds that they have shortened the distance between each city and formed “one-hour commuting circles”.
This not only promotes the economy, but also improves people’s lives, was Oh Ei Sun’s conclusion.
China has eliminated mass poverty in a short time through targeted measures, says Javed Akhtar, who worked with Independent News Pakistan (INP) asthe In-charge Pak-China News Desk, then adds, “It’s a miracle to benefit the general public with development achievements.”
(Source: People’s Daily)
