CMG president extends New Year greetings to global audiences

Shen Haixiong, president of China Media Group (CMG), on Monday extended his New Year greetings to international audiences, while highlighting the organization's role in promoting exchanges among civilizations and vowing to tell more good stories about China and the world.

In an address broadcast by China Global Television Network (CGTN), China Radio International and their online platforms, Shen noted that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative ushered in its first decade of prosperity in 2023.

CMG has actively promoted exchanges among diverse civilizations on the road to prosperity and recorded with lenses and pens countless stories in people's lives, he added.

Over the past year, CMG has also taken the innovation of "Ideas + Art + Technology" to new heights, said Shen.

"The Classics Quoted by Xi Jinping Season II," a series of multilingual programs that feature the Chinese president's quotes from ancient Chinese classics in his speeches and articles, was broadcast in more than 80 countries, he noted.

CMG also produced a host of cultural programs, including the documentary "Exploring Historical Chinese Cities" and TV show "Reading China on Bamboo Slips," to make the Chinese and other world civilizations shine more brightly, said Shen.

The media group's broadcasting of the Hangzhou Asian Games, which was held in the eastern Chinese city from September 23 to October 8 in 2023, won 41.4 billion reaches across platforms, setting a record for the Asian Games while documenting passions and dreams, he noted.

By hosting a variety of media forums with diverse themes, media events themed "Chinese Modernization and the World," and exhibitions named "Journey Through Civilizations" in different parts of the world, CMG has seen an ever more passionate circle of friendship over the past year, said Shen.

"More and more friends outside China are getting to understand, recognize and support China's ideas and propositions," he added.

CMG, established in 2018, has now become a comprehensive media group, the largest size in the world, said Shen, who added that in 2023, CMG completed the construction of its 191st overseas bureau, having built a communications network covering 67 countries and regions.

The total number of CGTN's international users has exceeded 700 million for the first time in 2023, and CMG was often the first source in covering major world stories, he added.

"On the journey of building a new-type, world-class mainstream media organization, we will go the extra mile to meet our goal of delivering quality products across our channels, networks and platforms at an accelerating pace," said Shen.

Noting that 2024 is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese lunar calendar, he said the mythical totem of Chinese civilization for good luck and good fortune represents the spirit of pooling all strengths, benefiting all beings, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and coexistence and interdependence between all things.

The year 2024 will also mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In the spirit of the dragon, CMG will bring more good stories about China and the world to global audiences in order to write new chapters of modern human civilization, he pledged.