
Swipe Right for the Motherland
When China’s flagship official newspaper introduces a dating app and starts hosting singles mixers for troops and government workers, you know the demographic issue has entered a new phase.

The Fujian International Communication Center (福建國際傳播中心), or FICC, was established on June 21, 2023, at a ceremony in Fuzhou attended by Zhang Yan (張彦), a standing member of the Fujian CCP Committee and head of its propaganda office. The center was organized under the propaganda office of the Fujian CCP Committee and is built and operated by Fujian Media Group (福建省廣播影視集團). The operating entity is Fujian New Era International Communication Center Co., Ltd. (福建新時代國際傳播中心有限公司), whose general manager as of June 2026 is Lai Han (賴晗), a former Fujian Television reporter who, according to a 2019 Xinhua profile of Xi Jinping, accompanied Xi on official trips in Fujian in 1998 and 1999 and developed a close working relationship with him. At the founding ceremony, Zhang framed the center’s mission as implementing Xi’s directives on international communication capacity-building, urging it to “make good use of the precious ideological and material legacy left by General Secretary Xi during his work in Fujian.” Fujian’s provincial “15th Five-Year Plan,” released in 2026, listed the center among priority institutions for strengthening the province’s international communication system. The center operates through the “Hola Fujian” overseas social media account matrix — active on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram — alongside content brands including “Molimoli” (茉莉茉莉), “Guobao Combination” (國寶組合), and “Chonggao Combination” (崇高組合). It has pursued media exchange activities with delegations from Indonesia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and other countries.
