TV show draws China closer to Kyrgyzstan viewers

Xinjiang TV host Adyl Ashym said he was pleased in May to receive a formal letter of thanks from Kyrgyzstan national television officials for his 15 years of efforts to introduce China to Kyrgyzstan's people through a daily TV program.

The 44-year-old anchor, of the Kyrgyz ethnic group in China, speaks the same language as people in Kyrgyzstan. He joined the Xinjiang Radio and Television Station in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in 2003.

In 2004, he became the host of a new TV program, China Today, which is broadcast daily in the Kyrgyz language via satellite on Kyrgyzstan national TV.