Icons discuss how to tell 'China's story'

China's Nobel laureate storyteller, Mo Yan, is perhaps the best placed to tell China's stories. That's why he, along with 44 other cultural icons - including Yao Ming, Lang Lang and Jackie Chan - was named an "ambassador of Chinese storytelling" in a meeting in Beijing hosted by the State Council Information Office on Friday.

"As China becomes a big player in the world, from the government leaders down to the ordinary people, all tell China's stories to the world. Some of them use words, others use their actions. For example, our workers help build bridges and highways abroad, doctors and nurses work in Africa, the Chinese Navy fights piracy in the Gulf of Aden. ... Their stories are juicy sources forus Chinese writers," Mo said.

When people say somebody has the ability or the power, he said, it is not his personal ability, but the power from his family, his team and all things that back him.