CGTN’s Nadim Diab on B&R Forum preparations

World
Europe

Nadim Diab was pursuing his master’s degree at Beijing-based Tsinghua University in 2013, when President Xi Jinping brought forward the Belt and Road Initiative. Four years on, the journalism student became an editor for CGTN Digital and the proposal for regional cooperation and development along the ancient Silk Road turned global, with the potential to transform the lives of at least 4.4 billion people along over 65 countries, with more in sight as the plan extends its geographic reach.

With the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation upon us, Nadim has been spending more time on the road than in the office preparing for the high-profile event. The Lebanese, who has called Beijing home since 2012, has been taking trips through time and geography in a quest to examine the umbilical cord connecting the present-day framework for equitable development with its historical raison d'être, the Silk Road, to better understand what the future holds for the initiative.

Nadim (right) with CGTN Digital editor Marco (middle) and live broadcast co-host Oyka (left) at the Zhongshan Bridge in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China’s Gansu Province, on their way to Dunhuang. /CGTN Photo

From the city of Dunhuang, in northwest China’s Gansu Province, Nadim traced the genesis of the ancient Silk Road, following the steps of Zhang Qian. The first Chinese diplomatic envoy to the outer world accidentally became an explorer when he brought back reliable accounts of the people, cultures and local products west of the Chinese Empire during the Han Dynasty, paving the way for trade between China and empires as far as the eastern banks of the Mediterranean Sea.

A statue of Zhang Qian at the Yangguan Pass in Dunhuang, northwestern China’s Gansu Province. /CGTN Photo

At the Shazhou night market in Dunhuang, he tasted the fruits of Zhang Qian’s labor (literally) as he sampled once-exotic delicacies that made their way to China through the ancient transcontinental route, such as dates and walnuts, while hunting for local produce the Chinese empire exported to the Western Regions (present-day Central Asia).

Dunhuang’s status as the only access westward for Chinese travelers and eastward for westerners turned the oasis city into a cultural and religious nexus through which Buddhism was brought to China from India, leaving its everlasting marks on the walls of the Mogao Grottoes and the many handmade crafts that Nadim discovered along the busy Bazaar.

In his live broadcasts on social media platforms, Nadim usually mixes a wealth of information with large doses of humor, easing the digestion of facts with refreshing candidness.

At Yangguan Pass, China’s first border crossing established around 120 BC at the edges of the Gobi Desert, he pretended to be a merchant from Mesopotamia as he rode camels, with his colleague Marco Shan, through the same arid lands that travelers trudged thousands of years ago.

Nadim as a merchant from Mesopotamia shakes hands with Marco, who is impersonating a traveler from the Han Dynasty, at Yanggyan Pass in Dunhuang, northwest China’s Gansu Province. /CGTN Photo

When not in risking criminal impersonation, Nadim is interested in telling the stories of ordinary people and providing a platform for their voices to be heard.

In “Voices from the Belt and Road” trilogy, he sat down with students from countries along the Belt and Road living in China to know more about their personal experiences abroad, their home-country traditions and the different reasons that brought them to Beijing. Nadim also tested their knowledge in a quiz show about the culture and geography of their host country and the China-proposed plan, in a livestream marked with belly laughs, never-told-before stories and a failed attempt of him trying to learn Uzbek and Ukrainian folk dance.

Nadim (right, back) co-hosting “Voices from the Belt and Road” with CGTN Digital editor John Goodrich (right, front) in Beijing. /CGTN Photo

Preparation for the star-studded forum – which will see 28 national leaders, international financial organization, CEOs of multinational companies and over 1,200 delegates from around the world in attendance – took him to Huairou District, a suburban area some 60 kilometers northeast of Beijing, to report about and examine the Yanqi Lake and the modern architectural delights on its banks where heads of state will meet for two round table summits on May 15, the second and final day of the forum.

3D animation also brought a virtual mini-Nadim character to life to help visualize big data about trade volumes between different Chinese regions and Belt and Road countries in 2016, and dissect top products exchanged across the border.

CGTN Digital 3D animator Zhang Wanbao creating “mini-Nadim” with Nadim in the background at the offices of CGTN Digital in Beijing. /CGTN Photo

During the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Nadim will be teaming up with other CGTN reporters to tour around the Media Center at the China National Convention Center (CNCC) in Beijing Olympic Park and talk to journalists about their experiences with and expectations of the event.

Shaped by a strong belief that the core of the global economic plan is the people, Nadim’s coverage of the forum will focus on how the multi-layered framework will enhance people-to-people bonds and exchanges across different sectors such as health, education and benefit their livelihoods.

1851km