Home / 2017 NPC and CPPCC

Honored to report and play my part

By Erik Nilsson | China Daily | Updated: 2017-03-13 07:37

Are fetuses entitled to property-inheritance rights? How can China protect people's personal information? And how will the nation chart its course over the coming year?

Two sessions. One minute. Twelve episodes. Dozens of vocabulary words. And more than 27 million views of the first few episodes on video app Miaopai alone.

The series I'm hosting, Two Sessions, One Minute - Lianghui Chinese with China Daily, helps foreigners learn Chinese while also informing a global audience about the annual meetings and what they mean for the country and the world.

Key words are translated, providing a bilingual format that aims to shed light on the direction the nation is heading in.

Honored to report and play my part

Viewers not only learn how to say Government Work Report - zhengfu gongzuo baogao - but also gain an understanding about what the report means for our shared future.

The same goes for yian (motions), daibiao (deputies) and fupin (poverty alleviation).

One thing I've come to realize as the first foreign journalist from China Daily to cover the two sessions from the Great Hall of the People is how consultative the Chinese government is.

It solicits suggestions from the public and acts on responses that come in tens of millions at a time.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang regularly solicit advice from people from all walks of life, in addition to meeting with scholars and experts.

Honored to report and play my part

I had the honor of offering face-to-face advice to Premier Li recently during an event marking Spring Festival at the Great Hall of the People.

That was after becoming the youngest foreigner in history to win the Chinese Government Friendship Award, the highest honor for "foreign experts who have contributed to China's social and economic development".

I also offered suggestions to the central government during last year's National Day celebrations.

It has been an honor to return to the Great Hall of the People during the two sessions to help China's story be heard and - I hope - be better understood.

These are monumental moments in a nation of increasing global importance - a place I've come to love and call home.

It's a place to explore, raise a family in and, whenever possible, give something back to.

I'm deeply honored to be front and center on such momentous occasions.

I truly wish China and the Chinese people the best in the coming year, and beyond.

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