Two Tsinghua Students Win International Communication Competition

Liang Lianfen (left) and Chen Ronghua (right), with their prize certificate.

Two Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication students were first-prize winners in an international filmmaking contest that drew about 3,000 submissions worldwide.

Chen Ronghua and Liang Lianfen were honored for their short film, "24 Hours in Beijing." The Tsinghua journalism students were one of the 10 first-prize winners selected in the First International Contest for Creative Communication of China's Story.

Participants could choose one of six themes for their submissions, including a story of the Chinese dream, a story of Chinese people, or one of the special topics chosen for this year like Peking Duck or Journey to the West. The submissions could be in any form from music to film, graphic design or virtual reality.

Chen, a Singaporean second-year master's student in the Global Business Journalism Program, who received her undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom, said that she found inspiration for the video's narrative in a quote from William Shakespeare:

"All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts"

"People always think of Beijing as a busy, fast paced place, but that is not the Beijing that I experience," Chen said. "I wanted to convey the other side of Beijing to people. The human side of Beijing. I wanted to capture the raw and authentic ordinary life of the people living in Beijing, no matter if they are local or coming from other places."

A screenshot from the film

A screenshot from the film

A screenshot from the film

As a foreigner living and studying in Beijing, Chen said that it was important for her to include locals and foreigners alike in the film because she sees both groups as important to her daily life in Beijing. By telling the China Story, she realized that Beijing's—and China's—greatest feature is truly its people.

"I learned that the China Story is very simple, and the simplest unit of the story is the people," Chen said. "My film is like a miniature of the ordinary Beijinger's daily life. The China Story comes from its people and not the fancy buildings or GDP."

Judges for the submissions included representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Hubei Government department of propaganda, professors from Tsinghua and Peking universities, media members, PR and commercial film industry representatives, and corporate leaders.

Chen and Liang's supervisor, Fan Hong, a professor in the School of Journalism and Communication and Executive Director of the National Image Research Center, won the top award for supervisors alongside nine of her peers.

Professor Fan Hong with her Tsinghua students Liang Lianfen (right) and Chen Ronghua (left)

Organizers of the competition included the Center for International Communication Studies of the China foreign languages Bureau, The Chinese Association for History of Journalism and Mass Communication PR Department, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and news website China.com.cn. (Story by Sarah Talaat, Global Business Journalism Program master's student)