Eric's Insight: Audiovisual week gives impetus to LMC folk bonds

The 5th Lancang-Mekong Audiovisual Week concluded in southwest China’s Yunnan province in late June. Featuring a trip to explore the many-splendored life in Yunnan and a short video creation camp for Generation Z, the event was attended by senior officials, media professionals and youth representatives from the south-southeast Asian countries, boosting people-to-people exchanges under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC).

Press officials and media professionals from the south-southeast Asian countries visit the Chengjiang Fossil Site Natural History Museum in central Yunnan's Yuxi city.

This year marks the eighth anniversary of the LMC mechanism for regional cooperation. Over the years, the six countries of China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have carried out diverse people-to-people exchanges in the fields of tourism, sports, media, education, youth and others, and these cultural exchanges have greatly facilitated closer folk bonds in the six countries, allowing them to better know about and cooperate with each other. In addition to those from the LMC countries, major media representatives from the South Asian countries of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan also attended this year’s audiovisual week, an unprecedentedly high rate of attendance by regional guests.

 

Youth representatives from the south-southeast Asian countries and beyond have a water splashing at the Puzhehei scenic area in southeast Yunnan's Wenshan prefecture.

Yang Guorui, vice minister of the National Radio and Television Administration of China, said the audiovisual week has become a brand mechanism for media exchanges in the region. In the past four years, more than 140 excellent audiovisual programs have been rolled out in the six countries, enriching regional people's cultural life and contributing to the Lancang-Mekong community of shared future. Maung Maung Ohn, Myanmar minister of information, said media cooperation is key to mutual understanding and Myanmar media have cooperated with peers in China and other LMC countries, adding regional media should make joint efforts for closer friendship, more cooperation and deeper exchanges.

 

Press officials and media professionals from the south-southeast Asian countries visit the Mouthdoleak food company in central Yunnan's Yuxi city. 

As is expected, the zest for regional media cooperation was also unprecedentedly high during the Lancang-Mekong Audiovisual Week, with Yunnan elements put in the spotlight. The news and reports on the cultural event have been actively posted and forwarded by more than 1,200 Chinese and Mekong media outlets. Among other things, Laos National Television and Yunnan International Communication Center for South and Southeast Asia inked a cooperative agreement on sign language audiovisual programs.

While outlets of the Cambodia-based Troryorng News Group were airing programs on Chinese practice in protecting world-heritage sites during the audiovisual week, reporters with the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand were sharing videos, pictures and texts of visiting Kunming flower market and Yunnan key AI laboratory on social networks. These media exposure showcased the many-splendored Yunnan life to folks in the region.

 

Youth representatives from the south-southeast Asian countries and beyond visit the Yi old town in central Yunnan's Chuxiong prefecture. 

In addition to business talks, agreement signings and cultural promotions, mutual learning among civilizations was also highlighted during the field visits of the audiovisual week. When the visits came to an end, participants on the Generation Z short video creation camp and the “Hi, China Yunnan” tour felt it hard to wave goodbye to each other, tears in their eyes. What they will miss forever is the charm of cross-cultural communication: Sameness leads to empathy, while differences are for mutual learning.

After five years of growth, the Lancang-Mekong Audiovisual Week has developed into a cradle for cultural exchanges, where consensuses of regional audio-visual cooperation are reached and the LMC culture of "treating each other as equals and helping each other like family" is forged. By listening to each other, meeting each other and understanding each other, folks in the the Lancang-Mekong river basin will create more splendid civilizations, giving infinite momentum to the LMC cooperation.

 

Youth representatives from the south-southeast Asian countries and beyond visit a primary school in southeast Yunnan's Wenshan prefecture. 

Writing by Wang Huan; Photos by Yunnan Daily; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue