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Activity Category: Media Engagement Activity

Shandong Province and Kyrgyzstan Unveil Technical Training Institute in Bishkek

On November 24, 2024, China and Kyrgyzstan unveiled the Ban-Mo Institute (班·墨學院) at Kyrgyz State Technical University in Bishkek, a vocational training institute jointly established by the Kyrgyzstan office of China Road and Bridge Corporation (中國路橋工程有限責任公司), Shandong’s Taishan Vocational and Technical College (泰山職業技術學院), Shandong Caishang Education Technology Co. (山東財商教育科技有限公司), and Kyrgyz State Technical University. The event was reported by Xinhua News Agency’s own Bishkek bureau chief correspondent, via Xinhua’s Belt and Road information platform, which described the institute’s purpose as providing “a pathway for Chinese technology to go global,” widening channels for Chinese “traditional culture” abroad, and supplying localized technical personnel for Chinese enterprises operating in Kyrgyzstan. Chinese embassy counselor Li Baojie (李保杰) called the institute, alongside a related China-Kyrgyzstan Technical College announced at the same event, “another important achievement” in bilateral education cooperation. Taishan Vocational and Technical College president Cui Genghu (崔耕虎) said the school aimed to combine “vocational skills and Chinese language” training to prepare workers for Chinese enterprises operating abroad, describing the effort as contributing to a China-Kyrgyzstan “community of shared future.” The institute is part of a Shandong provincial government initiative to build “Ban-Mo Institutes” overseas — a vocational education branding model that, like Tianjin’s separate Luban Workshop network, invokes ancient Chinese craftsman figures as a soft-power vehicle for China’s vocational education outreach.

Global Times Holds Photo Exhibition in Bishkek During Media Forum

On May 27, 2026, Global Times (環球時報) held a stop of its “Overseas China Week” series in Bishkek, launching a photo exhibition titled “Linked by Mountains and Rivers, Bound by Shared Hearts — China and Kyrgyzstan Hand-in-Hand for the Future” alongside the 2026 China-Kyrgyzstan Media Cooperation Forum. Attendees included People’s Daily deputy editor-in-chief Cui Shixin (崔士鑫), Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy Salkyn Sarnogoeva, Kyrgyz Tuusu Publishing House head Galina Baitekerek, and a Chinese embassy counselor. The exhibition was organized around four themes described by Global Times as “shared security responsibilities,” “integrated development opportunities,” “joint ecological construction,” and “mutual learning among civilizations,” and included images of joint counter-terrorism drills, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, and a Chinese-built waste-to-energy plant in Bishkek. The event also displayed the Russian-language edition of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China and Global Times feature coverage decoding the book, alongside AR translation glasses made by Chinese company LLVision. Global Times reported that Kyrgyz visitors, including a Kyrgyz National University Chinese-language teacher and the editor-in-chief of Slovo Kyrgyzstana, offered favorable impressions of the exhibition’s content and presentation. Global Times said the “Overseas China Week” series had previously appeared in South Africa, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and Kazakhstan.

Kyrgyzstan Premieres China-Produced Belt and Road Documentary

On November 30, 2023, Bishkek hosted the premiere of the documentary One Belt, One Road: Next to You, marking the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Kyrgyzstan’s state news agency Kabar. Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen (杜德文), Kyrgyz Transport and Communications Minister Tilek Tekebaev, and Kyrgyz Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy Chyngyz Esengul uulu attended. Du said the initiative had “evolved from a Chinese initiative into an international practice” over its first decade and voiced hope that continued cooperation would advance a “Chinese-Kyrgyzstan community with a common destiny” — an unmistakable reference to Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy phrase. The five-episode documentary covers infrastructure, trade, transport, agriculture, and cultural cooperation between the two countries, and was slated to air through “China TV Theater,” a strand created by China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), the state agency that regulates broadcast and online audiovisual content and oversees the licensing of domestic and foreign media in China, to place Chinese state-produced programming on foreign broadcasters’ channels and platforms. Kabar described Dolon TV, its local carrier, as Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest cable operator, with more than 100 channels in Russian, Chinese, and English, and reported that the company has partnered with Chinese media on content adaptation, packaging, and dubbing since the Belt and Road Initiative’s launch.

Zhejiang College Opens Luban Workshop at Kyrgyz State Technical University

On October 26, 2024, Zhejiang College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower (浙江水利水電學院) and Kyrgyz State Technical University (吉爾吉斯斯坦國立技術大學) officially unveiled the Kyrgyzstan Luban Workshop in Bishkek, a vocational training center offering degree and non-degree instruction in water conservancy, electrical engineering, machinery, and road and bridge engineering. Kyrgyz State Technical University president Mirlan Chynybaev called it the largest Luban Workshop in Central Asia, with 15 laboratories and three “smart classrooms,” and the most important education cooperation project between the two countries. Zhejiang college party secretary Qian Tianguo (錢天國) said the project aimed to build a model of Belt and Road educational cooperation and contribute to a China-Kyrgyzstan “community of shared future” — a reference to Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy concept, and an indication of how China has used the Luban network as a form of public diplomacy. After a second construction phase began in 2025, the workshop trained Kyrgyz personnel in smart manufacturing and hydropower operations and hosted more than 100 visiting government, university, and business delegations from both countries. On June 17, 2025, the People’s Daily devoted a full page to the workshop as part of a China-Central Asia cooperation special report, and China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), Xinhua, and Kyrgyzstan’s state broadcaster covered it as well, with footage screened at the China-Central Asia Summit. The Luban Workshop model originated from a Tianjin-based vocational education pilot and opened its first overseas site in Thailand in March 2016, before expanding to more than 20 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa. China’s Ministry of Education oversees the program’s development standards through a dedicated expert committee, and the network has been folded into national vocational education policy initiatives since 2018.

Hong Kong Television Networks Join Guangdong Broadcaster to Air National Security Drama Series

Beginning June 14, 2025, Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), a publicly listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the state-run Guangdong Radio and Television’s Jade Channel (廣東翡翠台), a mainland Chinese satellite broadcaster, jointly premiered the second season of a ten-episode national security drama produced with sponsorship from the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), according to a program summary posted to the HKPF website. TVB’s largest shareholder, Young Lion Holdings Limited, holds a 25.02 percent stake in the company through its subsidiary Shaw Brothers Limited, according to TVB’s 2024 annual report. That stake is jointly held under an agreement between Kenneth Hsu Kin and Li Ruigang, the founder of mainland Chinese investment firm China Media Capital, who also serves on TVB’s board as a non-executive director. The drama, “National Security Law — the Cornerstone of Prosperity and Stability” (有法安國 II), also aired separately as a distributor on Radio Television Hong Kong’s RTHK 31 channel, according to RTHK’s own program page. The HKPF summary describes the series as covering “risks Hong Kong faces amid geopolitical tension” (香港置身地緣政治緊張局勢下的風險) and tactics used by “external forces to interfere in Hong Kong affairs” (外部勢力干預的手法和霸凌行為).

Phoenix Television and Hong Kong Police Release Fourth Annual Documentary

In December 2024, Phoenix Television (鳳凰衛視) and the Hong Kong Police Force released Hong Kong Police Story 2024 (香港警察故事2024), a 60-minute documentary co-produced by the two organizations and also broadcast on public broadcaster RTHK. The documentary profiles police officers and cadets across four chapters covering maritime, air, and land units, as well as recruitment, and highlights the force’s use of AI-assisted patrol robots and camera-equipped armored vehicles, according to Phoenix’s program description. Phoenix Television’s largest shareholder is Bauhinia Culture Holdings, a company wholly owned by China’s central government, with China Mobile Hong Kong holding a further stake. The documentary is part of an annual series the two organizations have co-produced since at least 2021, when an edition covered prosecutions under the Hong Kong National Security Law, including the cases of Tong Ying-kit and Jimmy Lai.

Hong Kong Police Distribute Video Series Via Local Broadcasters

Since November 1, 2023, the Hong Kong Police Force’s Public Relations Branch has produced “Offbeat 360” (警聲360), a six-minute video program livestreamed weekly on Wednesday evenings via the force’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, according to a program description on the force’s website. The force distributes the program for rebroadcast to three local television outlets, including public broadcaster RTHK, i-CABLE’s HOY TV, and Phoenix Television (鳳凰衛視), as well as to more than 1,500 physical screens across the territory. Phoenix Television’s largest shareholder is Bauhinia Culture Holdings, a company wholly owned by China’s central government, with China Mobile Hong Kong holding a further stake. The program’s Chinese name references its Wednesday 6 p.m. broadcast slot, six-minute runtime, and stated aim of delivering crime and fraud prevention information and “telling Hong Kong police stories well” from “360 degrees,” according to the police description.

Hong Kong and RTHK Mark National Security Education Day With Student Drama

On April 15, 2025, Hong Kong’s Committee for Safeguarding National Security (香港特別行政區維護國家安全委員會) and public broadcaster RTHK marked the opening ceremony of the territory’s tenth National Security Education Day, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with a short student drama, according to a government press release. The ceremony was jointly supported by the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government and the Office for Safeguarding National Security, and Xia Baolong (夏寶龍), director of the central government’s Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, delivered keynote remarks by video link. Zheng Yanxiong (鄭雁雄), the Liaison Office’s director, attended in person in his capacity as the committee’s National Security Adviser, a role the Hong Kong National Security Law requires be designated by China’s central government, alongside Chief Executive John Lee (李家超). The drama, titled “Students’ Hearts, Motherland’s Feelings” (學子心祖國情), later aired on RTHK channel 31, according to a program archive on its website.

TVB and Hong Kong Police Launch Recurring Series on Police Work

Beginning November 20, 2022, Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) began co-producing a recurring segment series with the Hong Kong Police Force’s Public Relations Branch, airing weekly on TVB’s Jade Channel and other TVB channels, according to the Sing Tao Daily. The series, titled “Police Voice, 120 Seconds” (警聲百二秒), depicts police duties through dramatized “real-life scenarios” meant to introduce the force’s internal workings and break down public stereotypes, according to a program description on the Hong Kong Police Force’s website. Episodes have covered topics including intelligence gathering, counter-infiltration, and counter-terrorism work, presenting the Hong Kong National Security Law as a matter concerning the wellbeing of every resident. TVB’s largest shareholder, Young Lion Holdings, holds a stake tied to mainland Chinese investment firm China Media Capital, whose founder Li Ruigang (黎瑞剛) serves as a TVB board director.