China News Service, Shanghai, November 10 (Fan Yubin, Qian Renyuan) Recently, the "2026 Overseas Chinese Media Expo" event was held in Shanghai. Overseas Chinese-language media representatives from Thailand, Malaysia, Spain and other countries attended the "Overseas Chinese Connecting Continents·Shanghai CIIE" themed event, visited the CIIE exhibition hall, conducted city interviews, held discussions and exchanges, felt the surging vitality of China's high-level opening to the outside world, and recorded China's opportunities and Shanghai's vitality from the perspective of Chinese-language media.
Yu Chengtian, Deputy Director of China Operations of Brazil China News Agency, said that the overseas media will play a bridging role, record the excitement of the CIIE from a true and professional perspective, convey the voice of openness, bring China's sincerity and Shanghai's development opportunities to friends from all walks of life in Brazil and Latin America, and promote people-to-people ties and economic and trade exchanges between China and Latin America.
Li Huadong, editor-in-chief of Papua New Guinea's "PNG Overseas Chinese News", said that it will further leverage its advantages in integrating China and foreign countries, actively publicize new developments such as the construction of Shanghai's "Five Centers", use overseas Chinese as a bridge and use media as a mediator to help Sino-foreign economic and trade exchanges and people-to-people connections, so that the world can better understand China and Shanghai.
Xu Zishu, president of Madagascar’s China-Africa Daily, said that the most impressive thing about his trip to the CIIE was the first-ever overseas Chinese innovation project pavilion. Small and medium-sized enterprises from the overseas Chinese community appeared in groups, with both cutting-edge hard technologies and innovative products that are close to life, demonstrating the unique advantages of overseas Chinese wisdom and strength in the "dual cycle" of services. “I will pass on what I have seen and heard at the CIIE, especially the platform value of the Overseas Chinese Innovation Project Pavilion, to overseas Chinese in Madagascar and local companies, and actively build bridges to help small and medium-sized enterprises in the overseas Chinese community connect with overseas resources, not only to help them ‘go out’ to develop international markets, but also to ‘bring in’ high-quality resources.”
Event site. Photo provided by Shanghai Overseas Chinese Federation
Overseas Chinese media representatives went to Jing'an District, Shanghai to carry out news gathering activities. Following the historical context, starting from the Fuxin Flour Mill, they listened to the century-old story of the Rong family's "flour king" industrial service to the country; they visited Cai Yuanpei's former residence and felt the spirit of his ancestors who "aimed for national revolution, awakened to democracy and freedom"; they visited Huashan 263 Time-honored Brand Hall to taste the inheritance and innovation of Shanghai-style business culture.
Zhao Jianbin, editor-in-chief of Italian Chinese Network, said that many "second-generation overseas Chinese" and "third-generation overseas Chinese" in Italy do not have a deep understanding of the history of their ancestral country. "This interview made me realize that the history of overseas Chinese is not only a memory, but also a spiritual bond that unites the hearts of overseas Chinese. We will truly show the domestic safe and convenient living environment and complete elderly care and medical conditions to overseas countries, and we will also bring more overseas Chinese young people back to have a look."
Zheng Haiyan, deputy president of the Venezuelan Overseas Chinese Newspaper, said that at the Huashan 263 Time-honored Brand Pavilion, he saw Shanghai brands that carry the memories of generations taking on new life in an immersive scene, and deeply felt the charm of Shanghai-style culture. "I will tell the story of Shanghai's time-honored brands with a perspective and expression that is easy for Latin American audiences to accept, so that more overseas Chinese and foreign friends can understand the cultural heritage and ingenuity behind the time-honored brands."
Event site. Photo provided by Shanghai Overseas Chinese Federation
At the themed symposium, representatives from overseas Chinese media, representatives from mainstream media in Shanghai, and representatives from the overseas Chinese community in Jing'an had in-depth exchanges around the theme of "How to use overseas Chinese as a bridge to tell Chinese stories well" and shared their insights and thoughts on future work.
"Mazhong Insight is a media platform operating in three languages: English, Chinese and Malay. This allows us to break out of the traditional Chinese language circle and convey Chinese stories and CIIE opportunities to the local people in Malaysia and ASEAN audiences in a way that the local mainstream ethnic groups understand and are willing to accept." said Li Zhongping, founder of Malaysia China Insight.
"The biggest advantage of overseas Chinese media is that we are deeply familiar with the roots of Chinese culture and are familiar with the language habits and ways of thinking of the country where we live. This allows us to know not only what China wants to express to the world, but also a better understanding of how local society wants to understand China." Yang Honglian, CEO of Fiji Chinese Media Group, said that Pacific island countries have a limited population and economic scale, but they have unique concerns on issues such as marine civilization, climate change, and ecological protection. Overseas Chinese-language media can play a two-way bridge role, transforming China's development concepts into a language that local society is willing to listen to and understand, so that Chinese stories and Shanghai stories can truly enter the hearts of local people through two-way communication.
Jiang Ying, vice chairman of the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Federation, said that overseas Chinese media have unique communication advantages and hopes that everyone will continue to be vivid narrators of "China Opportunities" and share what they see and hear from participating in the CIIE and collecting news in Shanghai, especially Shanghai's continued optimization of the business environment and expansion of high-level opening up to the outside world. Policies and measures should be publicized to allow more overseas Chinese businessmen and enterprises living in China to understand Shanghai and the CIIE; be an innovative disseminator of "overseas Chinese stories", transform grand narratives into heart-warming stories, and use younger, visual, and international expressions to pass on the "overseas Chinese spirit" from generation to generation.
