The Second CHINAFRICA Short Video Competition, themed Working Hand in Hand for a Shared Future - My Unforgettable Experience in 2020, was launched at an online ceremony on August 28. During the ceremony, representatives of BEIJING REVIEW, a media organization under China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and the host of the competition, explained the rules of this year's contest and exchanged views with guests from China and Africa.

Initiated by BEIJING REVIEW last year, the competition aims to provide a platform for Chinese and African people, especially young people, to present their perspectives and experiences in the countries they live as well as their views on China-Africa ties.

With the publication of ChinAfrica, a monthly magazine dedicated to African readers, BEIJING REVIEW has been working to strengthen mutual understanding between Chinese and African people.

To attract more participants, the contest is also being held in South Africa and Senegal, in addition to China. BEIJING REVIEW is joining hands with Chinese embassies, local institutes and media in these countries to promote the contest. Strong support is also provided by CIPG, Chinese-African People's Friendship Association and several Chinese universities that host African students.

Attendees of the launch ceremony stressed that the competition with its extended reach will serve as a valuable means for Chinese and African people to enhance mutual understanding and friendship at a time when communication is hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Broader participation

The theme of this year's competition covers basically all topics of interest in both China and Africa, such as economic development, poverty reduction and people-to-people exchanges. This theme broadens the scope of the contest.

In addition to African people, Chinese people engaged in China-Africa exchanges, such as those working for Africa-based Chinese companies and medical or technical teams aiding Africa, are also invited to submit their works.

Gao Anming, Vice President and Editor in Chief of China International Publishing Group, emphasized the importance of advancing China-Africa friendship through people-to-people interactions in his speech at the launch ceremony. "The year 2020 will go down in the history of China-Africa relations as an extraordinary year. It is fitting therefore to hold a short video contest this year to tell the stories of exchanges between China and African countries and between Chinese and African people," he said.

The need to attract more people to the competition was stressed by Ayanda Holo, Director of International Media Relations of the Government Communication and Information System, South Africa, in his speech at the launch ceremony. While praising the great progress of China-Africa relations on the trade and economic fronts, he said people-to-people engagements need to be further enhanced.

Recalling his experience in China, he said that ordinary Chinese people have not been engaged enough with Africans.

"Our relations are still immature in terms of sharing lives: Africans still view China as a trading market space and the workshop for the world and ordinary Chinese people still view Africans in the same light that is perpetuated by Hollywood and the Western media," he said.

He applauded the initiative of the short video competition, saying that it encourages Africans who have visited China to share their stories of how they witness and perceive China.

Power of immediacy

It was also announced at the launch ceremony that the category of micro videos, videos that are less than one minute in length, was especially chosen to exploit the great potential of this form of video in generating interesting content.

The power of micro videos has been proven by popular short video platforms like Tik Tok and Douyin. Launched in 2016, Douyin has around half a billion users in China and Tik Tok has become one of the most popular apps in multiple other countries.

By providing this option, BEIJING REVIEW also hopes to attract contestants who are not skilled at filming and editing a video. It believes that techniques should not stand in the way of sharing interesting information. "Even amateurs with a smartphone can take part and share their stories and perspectives," said Li Jianguo, Associate Editor in Chief of BEIJING REVIEW.

Recalling the first competition held last year, Li said that the submitted videos fully demonstrated the enthusiasm of African youth in promoting communication between China and Africa. "That reaffirmed our belief that the competition is a valuable platform," he said.

Although a publisher of magazines, BEIJING REVIEW understands the value of videos as a new media form and has been transforming itself into an operator of various new media platforms with a focus on videos.

It has been producing multiple video products including ChinAfrica 360, a program featuring African hosts sharing stories and perspectives about China and Africa. The program allows it to communicate intuitively with its readers, which it believes is more powerful than just text.

Meaningful cause

The award ceremony of the first competition held in December last year was a memorable event for many of the attendees. At the ceremony, exchanges of ideas and performances of traditional African and Chinese arts brought the contest to a fitting conclusion. Above all, the attendees were most impressed by enthusiasm of the young Africans for promoting people-to-people exchange between China and Africa.

Passant Sayed from Egypt, the first-prize winner, showed how well a foreigner can master Chinese by performing guankou, a traditional Chinese performing skill that features quick utterance of long lines of Chinese. It is a challenge even for many local Chinese if not specially trained to do so.

Sayed is a student at the Beijing Normal University learning Chinese language teaching. She has mastered the language so well that she was the champion of the 18th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, which was held in the city of Changsha, Hunan Province in central China, in 2019.

She wants to become a teacher of Chinese language back in Egypt. She said that the Chinese language has been a hot topic in Egypt, especially after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Egypt in 2016. After that, many Chinese companies have emerged in the country and learning Chinese has become even more popular as it opens more job possibilities.

Another winner of last year's competition Ngoma Mfoutou Dona Malvina from the Republic of the Congo studies Chinese language at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Liaoning Province in northeast China. He has a similar plan. He said many people in his country want to learn Chinese, but there are not enough teachers to teach the language.

While learning the Chinese language and culture, he also promotes African culture in China. He brought his African drum all the way from Dalian to the award ceremony and performed it with a friend. Their performance drew the award winners and part of the audience into joyful dancing.

This year's contest will certainly be an opportunity for Chinese and African people to present their perspectives on each other on an even larger scale. "We are confident that the competition will bring us many extraordinary stories about China-Africa friendship," said Li Yafang, President of BEIJING REVIEW, in her speech at the launch ceremony. 

(Print Edition Title: Creative Expressions)

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