Hello and welcome to World Today, I am Jiang Ying.
Coming up, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the full revitalization of Northeast China.
How important is the region to China's broader economic vision?
U .S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all sealed and aluminum imports.
Could these tariffs backfire on the U .S.
economy? The Chinese animated blockbuster Noja 2 has become the first non -Hollywood film to hit one billion U .S.
dollars at the box office.
What's behind its success?
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged Xi Jinping Province to play a bigger role in advancing Chinese modernization.
He made remarks while listening to the work report from the CPC Jilin provincial committee and the provincial government in Tianquan.
President Xi caught on the province to further implement the central authorities' arrangements for the floral democratization of northeast China in the new era.
He stressed that Jilin must focus on high -quality development.
For more, we are joined by Dr. Zhomi, senior Research Fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
President Xi has visited Northeast China multiple times in recent years.
Why do you think the region is so important to the broader vision for China's future?
Yes, I think that North East part of China is very important because it was one of the most important manufacturing basis for China.
Also, the Northeast is also one of the most important suppliers for many agricultural So we can depend on these areas to benefit maybe not only China, but also the other part of the world, and to supply them with a lot of different products, manufacturing products, and also agricultural products.
President Xi emphasised Julian's role in promoting the full revitalisation of north -east China and in advancing China's modernisation.
Can you explain how Jilin's economic and industrial landscape positions it to contribute to this national goal?
Well, we know that Jilin is in the middle of the north -east part of China.
And it is a very important base for the manufacturing, especially for the car making.
So we can find that Jilin has a lot of advantages compared with other provinces in the north -east of China.
China, they have a comparatively large population and also a lot of diversified I mean the different sectors, not only the manufacturing but also the agriculture and some of the services related sectors.
So if we can make Jilin have a better performance, it will connect to the other two provinces of North East China and also have a better connection with even the North East Asia.
Russia. So I think that Xi Jinping is going to play a better, you know, performance because if we're looking at the GDP growth last year, it has performed pretty well compared with other provinces in China.
So even under such a very challenging time, I do believe that Xi Jinping can try to explore its advantages by welcoming more people and also, you know, a lot of resources from other parts of China.
Well, President Xi stressed the importance of maintaining the real economy as the foundation of development.
Why is the real economy so critical for Jiren's growth and future prospects?
Yeah, Jiren is one of the manufacturing bases, so we have a lot of real economy.
We can find the car making factories, and also there are many people who are trying to do more to improve the infrastructure.
For the real economy, it is one of the foundations of the Chinese economy, generally speaking.
So when we're looking at the development of the services and other different types of economies, I think the real economy is based all of this, especially in such an uncertain world, we see that what is under change, a lot of pressures are beginning to impact the cooperation between different areas of the world.
So, if we're not able to have a real economy, I think that is definitely very, very fragile for the development of the economy of China.
So Xi Jinping has these advantages, and he's trying to transfer from a traditional one to a better one.
I think that is definitely the goal that we can expect from Xi Jinping's performance.
Okay. And in the meantime, the president caught for the transformation of traditional industries and the development of new productive forces.
So which sectors in Julian are best positioned to undergo those transformation?
Well, as we said that the car making is one of its leading sectors.
So if you're looking at, you know, automobiles industries, I think that in the recent years China has performed quite well compared with other economies in the world.
So we're not only trying to improve the efficiency of producing the traditional cars but also trying to encourage and also to transfer from the traditional ones to the new energy ones.
So the new energy is not only just the fuse for the cars to use.
is definitely one of brand new things.
It's trying to involve or include more tech knowledge into the car making this supply chains and also trying to provide the customers with better performance and enjoy the technology.
Well, that is what Jilin is capable of.
And another one, I think it's very attractive.
That is satellite based technology.
We see that the Jilin number one system about the remote sensing satellites in the world has reached more than 117.
So they have a very, I mean, advancing technology to have a better remote sensing for covering all the world.
I think it's going to provide a better opportunities for really it's countries to benefit from that.
And some other countries are also trying to cooperate with them, as Jilin has these advantages, it can also develop those sectors related to the satellites.
So, I do believe there are so many new things that Jilin is capable of and they can do better to improve the connections with other part of China.
Well, you mentioned the technological advancements in various fields, and President Xi also urged efforts to translate technological breakthroughs into real productivity.
How is Jilin applying is tech innovations to boost its productivity?
Well, the technology development should have its base for the market.
I think the market is really the driving forces for us to look at the future.
As you can find that in the recent days, DeepSick is one of the very promising technologies that is also embedded in so many different sectors.
As for Jiriin, they have that satellite -based systems and they also have the car -making like the new vehicle, new energy vehicles are producing.
So I think that this can offer societies and they can be combined to provide a better and more complementary development for the different parts of these related stakeholders.
Well, for some of the car -making, they are you know, the suppliers.
buyers, they can provide a better outdoor part to the manufacturer of that, and for the consumers, I think that they can also propose some of the requires to those producers.
Well, if you're looking at the plans of Jilin, especially for this year, they are going to improve their infrastructure allowed by the airports development, also the infrastructure of the high -speed rails.
And I think that is definitely one of the very promising areas we can expect for the better development and also the integration of the different parts of the society of Jilin and other parts of China.
And what efforts are being made in Jilin to create a more market -oriented and internationalized business environment as President Xi has stressed in his remarks?
Well, if we are talking about that, I think the northeast part of China is not as leading open areas in China compared with other, you know, part in the eastern part of China, but they are going to do more.
I think that they have their own advantages.
That is the advantages to be a neighbor to some of the northeastern Asian countries and also Japan and also South Korea.
So, Zhiling can do its best to try to not only just physically open those areas, but also something to do with the internet.
And I think that is definitely what they can do.
And another kind of integration and opening up is to other parts of the Northeast China, and I think that is also Zhiling.
They can do more to connect the different areas by better using of the technology, like or other internet -based technology, and that's very promising.
Well, President Xi also emphasized the development of modern agriculture in Gilin.
How can the province build on its agricultural strengths to support the push for modernization?
Well, Gilin has many advantages.
One of them is they have the Chiang Mai Mountain and they have a diversified kind of trees.
And I think that they also have a lot of products like the ginseng and I think that it's helpful for them to do more to try and to explore its advantages of those areas.
Well another one I think is also very important because for China we are going to develop the better and more sustainable seeds industries and the development of these industries should based on the different environments like for jilin they have advantages of cold and warm in different seasons, so they can try and explore their advantages to better support that with more diversified seeds selections.
And another one I think is also important to improve the, you know, sustainability of the food, especially for some of the rice and other main food that the Chinese market are really, really on.
We know that the world is entering so many strains, So, we have to be more reliable on the domestic supply of those main food, and Xi Jinping can also do more to improve its connections between the market, between the suppliers of Heilongjiang and also the main consumption market of Beijing, Tianjin and those areas.
Yeah. And President Xi also pointed to Xi Jinping's eyes in snow resources as a key asset for tourism.
how can this sector help drive the region's broader economic growth?
Yeah, in the spring festival it's very hot in the northeast China, because the ice and, you know, the snow tourism are really attracting so many people from the south.
I do believe that it can improve its own advantage that we know that there is a Chagan lake and they have a very special festivals, rules, so they can do more to improve the tourism based on the advantages of the conditions and while together with more inclusion of the creation of the different cultural characteristics.
I think that is definitely what we can expect, not only in the winter but also in some other areas, some other seasons that can be done even in the indoor activities.
That is Dr. Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow with Chinese Academy of International Trade trade, and economic cooperation.
Coming up, U .S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 % tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.
Could these tariffs backfire on the U .S.
economy? Please stay with us.
You're listening to World Today, I am Janayen.
U .S. President Donald Trump has threatened to slap 25 % tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports on top of existing metals duties.
The largest sources of U .S.
steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.
Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum to the U .S., accounting for 79 percent of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024.
Trump also said he would unveil new reciprocal tariffs targeting imports from a wide range of countries that impose levies on U .S.
exports. imports. The announcement came as China's retaliatory tariffs came into effect, which was a response to new U .S.
levies of 10 % on all goods imported from China.
For more, we are joined by Aaner Tengen, senior fellow at Taihe Institute.
Aaner, thanks for joining us.
Always a pleasure. So Trump has announced this new tariff, 25 percent on all steel and aluminum imports.
And that includes for major trade partners like Canada and Mexico.
What are the potential economic consequences of this move for US industries, especially for those reliant on important metals.
Well, it's a bit puzzling because he says he wants to get bring manufacturing back to the United States, but this is going to be put a real dent in it.
It means that everything that uses steel and aluminum, which is a lot of it is the appliance industries, although there's not many of them there, there are some.
And then also the auto industry, obviously, there's a lot in the steel buildings and things like this.
So it's you know, in one level, he says, okay, I'm going to get these tariffs.
And I want, you know, steelmakers to do well in the United States like U .S.
steel. But on the other hand, he's raising the cost and making U .S.
made things less competitive.
So it's a little bit odd.
What is really strange, though, is he just had the prime minister of Japan in the White House the day before, and he convinced him to put money from Nippon steel into U .S.
steel, not buy it out.
And then the next day he announces tariffs.
Those tariffs are going to go directly against Japan.
And Nippon steel is one of the largest exporters to the U .S.
about a billion dollars worth.
So it's kind of really hard to understand exactly what the rationale is behind what he's doing.
Yeah. Before we move on to discuss the impact of these tariffs, Trump has actually mentioned preventing foreign companies like Japan's Nippon Steel from taking majority states in the US steel?
I mean, what do you think this means for foreign investment in the US steel industry or other industries?
just remember, I mean, the Presidents of the United States in his case he only has four more years at the most.
If he continues to raise prices, it'll probably only two years because the Electorate was very clear that they wanted somebody who could control the prices because they feel a lot of under pressure because of inflation and things like this.
So it's just it's very puzzling.
If you want to bring investment into the U .S., you have to have an environment that is predictable, which means that you don't raise tariffs whenever you feel like it.
And where the costs are lower and he's not being able to provide that.
Anyone coming into the United States today and saying I'm going to be using a lot of steel, they're going to have to buy it from U .S.
steel, which it's not clear that they'll have the capacity or the types of steel that you need.
Because this is a blanket across the board, all steel, so there's a lot of specialty steels made in South Korea and also in Japan.
And what's the point?
They're not even competitors to U .S.
steel but yet American companies are gonna pay more for them.
Yeah, so how do you see these new tariffs affecting U .S.
relations with these key trading partners?
Like, will they lead to further retaliatory measures?
Oh, I don't know. I mean, people are just looking at him and just wondering what he's up to.
I mean, yeah, you look at what he's done, he started off with 25 % on Mexico, and then 25 % and also on Canada.
And then because the markets reacted so badly, he claimed victory when in actuality, All they did was offer the same things before.
He was threatening to impose the tariffs.
So clearly, he likes to make controversial statements so you forget about anything that happened the day before, and then he assesses, tries to see if there's an opportunity, the weakness of whoever he's beating up or how the markets are reacting to it, and then he sees if he could make a deal.
and if he can't, he moves on to the next day and releases another outrageous statement which keeps the press basically chasing him around.
Well, as we know, in a globalized economy, tariffs can disrupt supply chains and lead to shortages and inefficiencies.
So how might Trump's decision to impose these tariffs disrupt global supply chains?
Well, they will. I mean, well, not in terms of steel and aluminum because basically, he says anything that's coming from outside is going to be tariffed, so it's not particular to one country.
So it's not like Japan can ship the steel to Indonesia and Indonesia can get it into the US.
He can ship it to Canada and claim it's Canadian.
So this is going to be across the board and that's what I was alluding to in my first answer.
it's puzzling. All he's doing is making American products less competitive, not more competitive.
And if you're a businessman, it's just a little bit too much to take, especially at this time, and you don't know what happens after Donald Trump, but I think most people are certain that the tariffs will not continue the way he's doing them.
Okay and besides the impact on US economy, you know, some argue that tariffs often lead to a beggar -thigh neighbor's scenario where each country tries to protect itself at expensive others.
So do you think Trump's tariffs could escalate trade conflicts like this and lead to global economic instability?
Not will it already has.
I mean, you've seen what happens to the markets every time he throws these big numbers around.
He's not creating a stable, predictable market, which is what business is like.
if they know what's coming, they can plan around it.
If they don't know what's happening, they're not going to invest because they can't plan.
And this is very, very damaging to the global economy.
Even in situations where you can avoid terrorists by going through other countries, you're increasing the logistics cost.
That means that eventually this gets passed on to the U .S.
consumers. And for the nations that are involved, they don't feel good about this.
And I don't blame them.
I mean, you know, beating up on Panama, saying you're going to take the canal back.
These types of things, you know, countries around the world, 193 of them, they look at that and say gee, you know, that could be me and they don't feel good about America anymore.
Neither does Canada.
I mean, Donald Trump was unique in history in that he's the first person to unite Canada.
Well, let's look at the impact on US workers.
Like how would he assist the overall impact of Trump's trade policies on American workers in the long run, like could these tariffs lead to the kind of high paying, union supported manufacturing jobs that he has promised or is the reality perhaps more complex?
It's very much more complex. Okay.
So US US Steel will try to fire up some boilers and provide steel at a cheaper price and try to win back market support.
Is it long term? Would it last only as long as they're in essence being subsidized by the taxpayer?
Just remember tariffs are paid by the person by the group who imports them.
It's not It's not paid by the country, contrary to popular opinion, it's paid at the moment it lands in the United States.
Whoever ordered has to pay the terror.
So it's going to be disruptive.
So a few more jobs at US Steel.
But in the rest of the industries, because they're no longer competitive, you're going to see people actually being laid off.
And this is not the first time it's happened.
It happened before, and even during his last term in office.
He was trying all of these things to try to foster more industrialization in the US, but actually in some cases, he actually destroyed industries, because there's a downstream effect.
You produce the steel, great.
You get a few more jobs.
But then because I'm not competitive, I'm not going to buy as much steel from you.
And I'm not going to produce things and therefore I don't need workers.
And this goes all the way down the line.
remember the effect the economic multiplier can work and reverse, as well as put down the positives.
So what I think could be the real intention behind such moves?
Because some would say that these tariffs are actually politically motivated and they're meant to appeal to Trump's base in those rust belt states.
How much of this move do you think is about political posturing versus genuine concerns for U .S.
manufacturing? 100%.
I mean, Donald Trump, unfortunately, doesn't have a very sophisticated understanding of tariffs.
He still thinks that he's somehow taxing China and Canada and Mexico when he's, in fact, taxing his own people.
It's just a strange thing.
You can't get around it.
Yes, this is definitely red meat for his base.
He's, quote, following through on his promises to get rid of foreign, you know, subsidized steel and onwards.
I mean, he's had whole things.
And you know, we haven't even reached what he's going to do to Europe.
So you know, in the next few days, I mean, as I said, every day there's going to be a new white rabbit.
He releases where the press goes chasing after it, and they forget about the day before.
But overall the impression to his face that he's very active, doing all these things he said he was doing despite the fact that it's achieving negative ends on one side and on the other side it's achieving nothing.
Well, Thank you Ainer Chengin, Senior Fellow at Taihe Institute, thank you so much for joining us.
And Mortukon, Japanese automaker Toyoda, will build a new factory in Shanghai to produce Lexus EVs.
And the Chinese animated blockbuster Noja -2 has become the first non -Hollywood film to hit 1 million US dollars at the box office.
What's behind is success.
As you're listening to World Today, and remind our listeners to listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
And you can also follow us on Netflix, it's the CGTN video.
I'm Zhao Ying, we'll be back after a short break.
This is World Today.
I'm Zhao Ying. Japanese automaker Toyoda says it will build a new factory in Shanghai for the Lexus brand as the company seeks to strengthen its development and manufacturing capabilities in the Chinese market.
The world's top -selling automaker aims to open the new plan in 2027.
It will focus on producing electric vehicles and batteries.
Toyota will wholly own the factory rather than operate as a joint venture.
The company expects initial production capacity to be around 100 ,000 units per year, with about 1 ,000 new jobs at the start of operations.
Meanwhile, USAV maker Tesla says its Shanghai mega factory will start official operations this week.
The mega factory is the first that Tesla has built outside the United States.
For more on this, our Zhao Yang spoke with Chen Jiahe, Chief Investment Officer at Norban maqi Technologies.
So, Zhao He, the Japanese auto maker Toyota, will build a new factory in Shanghai to develop and produce electric vehicles and batteries.
So why is Toyota making this move right now?
Well, that's basically because China's market is probably one of the most important markets in the world that every auto factory wants to grab.
I mean basically because first of all, China has a huge amount of consumer base.
I mean, currently Chinese people are consuming about 30 million cars every single year, and half of that is EVs, new energy vehicles.
Another thing is that China is also a place where you have the most complete industrial chain around the world.
You can find almost every equipment you need.
You can find the battery at the very attractive price.
You can find companies producing tires and all the small equipment and everything.
So this is basically a market that no auto factory in the world can miss.
And I think that's a pretty wise decision for them to build a factory over here and grab some opportunities in this large market.
And Tesla's Shanghai Mega Factory will also start official operation this week.
So what advantages does Shanghai have for the NEV industry?
Well if you look at Shanghai's standing in this economic region, that is the most profitable an active one of China.
A few provinces surrounding this place are Jiangsu province, the Anhui province, and Zhejiang province.
And don't even mention that Shanghai is a huge city with about, I think it's about 30 million population or 28 million population.
And also the governments around Shanghai, including Shanghai as well, is giving a lot of support to new energy vehicles.
I mean, you can get your plate much easier if you are buying a new energy vehicle in some some of these cities.
So it's a huge market and it got the industrial chains running.
It's coming from Jiangsu and Zhejiang province.
So basically speaking, you are sitting, if you are sitting a factory in Shanghai, you are sitting in the center of a lot of factories.
So buying air equipment or components that you need from some other factories may cost you only 100 or 200 kilometers of the transportation distance.
So it makes you much easier to build the factory down here, and that's why Tesla chose Shanghai.
Well, Zhang He, we know that Japan's second and third largest automakers, Hongdae and Nissan, have been in talks for a merger for months.
The merger aimed to create a larger company capable of investing more in the transition to EV technology.
However, media reports say the talks of merger have stalled recently.
So what are the main difficulties, do you think, over there?
Well, that's quite a surprising news because we thought this merger and acquisition would be much easier because it's a very clear benefit if they're doing this because they are building a larger company with more financial support and more sales channels all across the world.
It just makes them more capable to fight against its competitors around the world, especially the competitors that comes from China.
But you have these difficulties.
I'm not in the company myself so I'm not sure about what exactly the problem that they're having but it would just basically because of the terms.
I mean some companies are offering a term that yeah the company can't take it.
So it's a lot of bargain going on.
I mean I have been working in the investment bank for merger acquisition for two years myself.
I met many companies and I saw quite a few deals.
And it's pretty hard thing for you to conduct the deal.
Sometimes you would think that this merger acquisition is beneficial to both sides, but just the some terms that some company cannot take will store the merger acquisition process.
I mean, if you look at the history of merger acquisition, you get failure cases everywhere.
So, JiaHeo, what innovations do you think have Japanese automakers failed to establish, which is contributing to their loss of competitiveness this in the global market?
Well, I would just say before Chinese companies came in, the Japanese company were doing pretty good.
I mean, they did quite a lot of good technologies with the innovation in cars.
For example, the mixed -energy models which you can use both the gas and the battery, they got a pretty good technology with that.
So I would just say it's not the Japanese companies that has been doing something wrong, but it's because the competitors from China are just too powerful.
Japan didn't admit this competitor before.
If you look at the history of the auto industry in Japan, it grew up in the era between 1960s and 1980s, and they were fighting against some of the American companies.
And if you compare the efficiency between American factories and Chinese factories, factories, you can see that Chinese factories are more capable of producing things at first speed.
We are actually employing more engineers.
That's why Tesla chose this factory to be built in China.
After saying Japan hasn't been doing something wrong, they probably just emit too powerful competitors from Chinese companies like BYD and these kinds of companies.
What has the rise of China's auto industry, especially the NEVs brought to the traditional automakers in the countries like Japan, like Germany.
Well, the rising of China's EV companies has definitely posed a lot of pressure to its competitors.
I mean not only the companies in Japan and Germany.
We have also saw that traditional car producers in China are also facing a huge amount of competition from these EV producers.
I mean, we saw a lot of marginal acquisition in China's traditional car makers.
and that's because they got pressure.
Their selling is dropping by about six or eight or even ten percent every year and they have to do the merchant acquisition in order to bring more power to fight back to the EV companies.
So it's a lot of pressure that China's EV companies are bringing to these traditional car producers all over the world in China as well.
And earlier you mentioned BYD.
So what do you think has made the companies like BYD successful in China's N EV development?
well b yd is particularly successful i mean if you even compare b yd with many of the ev producers in china it's a very successful company so if you talk about the ev industry of china then its success comes from multiple things including like china's large population china's very vivid markets china supply and the industry chain that's really good and China's huge amount of engineers but if you look at BYD in particular this company is winning out among its Chinese competitors.
I think mostly because it got a very good start of batteries.
I mean BYD before it entered the auto industry it was actually a pretty successful battery producer if you remember that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger were investing in BYD about more than a decade ago, they looked at this company as a battery producer, and Warren said, okay, this is a very successful battery producer.
So they bought the shares of BYD, and when BYD was entering the auto industry, China Munger actually told the manager of BYD that you shouldn't try the auto industry, it's too competitive, you don't want to enter that, just be a battery producer, that's probably most profitable thing for you.
And the later story told us that even the Berkshire–Haslery can make mistakes, and BYD became a successful auto producer.
And that's because it got a very good foundation of battery producing, and that's an advantage that it is having even over its Chinese competitors.
And talking about the auto industries' future, do you think it is the smart car or self -driving technology or the new energy vehicles that will dominate the future of the auto industry?
Or is it a combination of the two?
I think in the future we will see a combination of both the new energy vehicles and the traditional cars probably at least in the next two decades.
And after two decades you don't know because the technology will improve to some extent that we cannot imagine today and we might have very different things coming out.
And if you look at auto driving and AI that will help people to drive more safe, safer, and easier in everything.
And probably every car model in the future, no matter its such, an international car and EV, they will employ some degree of self -driving and AI, all those kinds of things.
That is Chen Jia -hu, chief investment officer of Novocarkey Technologies, speaking with Zhao Yang.
This is World Today, stay with us!
You're listening to World Today, I'm Zhao Yang.
Johnny's box office hit, No Jia 2, has made its overseas premiere in Hollywood, drawing hundreds of fans and filmmakers from China and the United States.
Formerly known as Noja, Demon Child Conquered the Sea, the film is the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster, Noja.
It drew inspiration from the tale of the mythological figure from the Ming Dynasty novel The Investiture of the Gods.
The film will kick off special screenings in North America on Wednesday ahead of its official release on Friday.
After opening on the first day of Chinese New Year, the film shattered multiple box office records.
It became the first film to cross 1 billion U .S.
dollars in the single market and the first non -Hollywood title to join the billion dollar club.
For more, we are joined by Mario Cavallo, founder and CEO of M Communications Group and senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
Thanks for joining us Mario.
Always a pleasure to join you Zao Ying, and of course, I should say, Guo Nian.
How? Happy New Year.
Happy New Year. First of all, what factors do you believe contribute most to its no just unprecedented box office success?
I was so glad that you invited me to do the show, because my wife had just said on Sunday, Hey, I want to get tickets and let's go see we were so we just saw the movie two days ago and you know for me, I mean I speak pretty good Chinese I speak very conversational Chinese, but I'm very comfortable, you know onstage speaking some Chinese in front of people but but my Chinese is not fluent And and so there I was sitting in in Chinese movie In this case naja and you know frankly not understanding most of what's actually being said in the dialogue It's you know quite complex and Even though I was not understanding
and of course bugging my wife asking her to tell me what that meant and what this meant What that meant I drive her crazy with that.
I still was sitting there and it's a really long movie I was still just captivated and And just thoroughly entertained as everybody was.
And the Chinese people were, the theater was packed and the Chinese audiences along the way were laughing at the humor.
And I get it, cause I, you know, I've been here 25 years.
I understand Chinese culture.
And so I get the humor.
I get the subtle way that Chinese movies are.
I've been in them as an actor as well, you know.
So I understand that there's a different way that things are done the Chinese way.
And boy this movie just took it this just movie just took it to the next level in a number of different ways Yeah, and you know the film draws heavily from Chinese mythology So how does it balance traditional elements with modern storytelling to appeal to the contemporary audiences?
Yeah, and that question Enables me to point out the two key things you know, what what grabs you about the movie.
And the first thing that grabs you about the movie.
And from the Chinese point, it's actually three, it's kind of three elements.
It's from the Chinese point of view, it reaches back to old history and mythology and Chinese love that, you know, they should be very proud of, you know, thousands of years of Chinese history.
And this movie reaches back into that mythology, which is amazing, and the second part of that is that and in doing so, in this particular case, the movie tells such a genuine, compelling, and entertaining and engaging story.
So, the storyline, right?
A great movie tells a great story.
And that's what this movie does, it tells a great story, so that's the second element.
And the third element, of course, I think everybody recognizes, and that is it took the modern graphics, the modern 3D, the modern ability of technology with the computers, and the graphics quality was so real, and so broadly large and spectacular at the same time.
So I'd say those were the three key things that made it work.
Yeah, and actually the director, Zhao Zi, had mentioned that international success depends on the intrinsic charm of the story.
Do you think Ne Zhan, too, has the potential to resonate with global audiences, especially for those who might not be familiar with Chinese culture?
Or do you think there'll be difficulties for them to understand the story in a film?
I don't think it will be difficult for the foreign audience to enjoy this movie.
I'm gonna say with one caveat, and that being of course as long as it has, you know, subtitles in their language, right?
So, if it has English stuff, I would have loved the movie even more, I would have understood it.
And again, I knew what was going on, and the Chinese, the foreign audience with with English subtitles or others, even other subtitles, there's just no doubt in my mind they would find this movie spectacularly entertaining from the very beginning.
It's just so entertaining and it goes from plot point to plot point.
And then just when you think that it's shown you some spectacular scenes, it shows you even more.
And all along the way, I was just blown away by, by this.
And, but, but not talking about the graphic side of it to answer your question more about the story side.
And that is to say, that, and I keep thinking of what happened back when, back in America, they came out with a Lion King, right?
That was a record, that was a, another groundbreaking movie because it made the animation so, it was so good at making the animation personal.
Everyone personally fell in love with the characters and the emotions of the characters in The Lion King and it set a new trend, right?
And this movie has taken that to the next level because it's the same thing.
This movie has the compelling story, the emotional story, you wanna laugh, you wanna cry, the characters themselves really touch your heart, touch your emotions.
And apart from the story, the animation quality and visuals have also been widely praised.
So how does the film advance the technical aspects of Chinese animation.
And what does this mean for the industry's future?
Yeah. And in this one, I'm just repeating myself because I've said it seven times, I'll say it 10 more times, you know, the graphics quality is just up at another level.
What really surprised me was how the animated, okay, the animated characters were not human, but they were so realistic, so realistically personal and human, like, they weren't animals, It was a remarkable level of animation.
It was a remarkable level of animation, and this goes to the storyline on a personal level, because you're talking about the dialogue and the emotional expression, the biowda, of the individual characters, and that was there to such a degree of genuineness and warmth, on top of which the animation side also took size, this spectacular huge size of an animation which was, you know, shooting across the universe, shooting across the sky, going between the present and the past, all with this absolutely spectacular digital animation that honestly is indescribable.
You have to go see the movie to see how amazing it was.
and not, not, uh, not clatchy, you know, not, uh, not overdone just spectacularly well done.
Well, thank you Maru Kavolo, founder and CEO of M Communications Group and senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
This is World Today, stay with us.
You are listening to World Today, I'm Zhao Ying.
Jana's eight -day spring festival holiday has wrapped up with domestic passenger trips totaling a record 501 million.
In the meantime, the country's 40 -day spring festival travel rush will continue until more than a week from now.
It's estimated that some 4 .8 million inter -regional passenger trips were made across China during the first half of the ongoing travel rush, a 7 .2 % increase year -on -year.
So to what extent do travel trends serve as barometer for consumption and the broader economy of China?
My colleague Tian Wei had a talk with Jang Sun, CEO of multinational travel agency Trip .com Group.
whether that will have an impact on people's mentality.
Maybe the Spring Festival is a good occasion to find out.
Absolutely, absolutely.
The government is trying very hard to stimulate the spending and travel have a very good leverage because when we bring people from a wealthy area into England, we're able to create more job opportunities, people are going to shop in these areas and lift the economy in these regions.
Stimulated domestic consumption that has been a slogan going on for quite some time.
How effective do you think it has been?
I think government takes mainly three measures.
The first one is the monetary policy, which is very effective.
It stabilizes the stock market.
The second one is fiscal policy.
And if you incentive people to travel, normally travel can represent 10 % of the GDP growth and 10 % of the job opportunities.
So it's very effective.
The third one is the structure change, which the government and industry are working very hard.
China has been practicing what they call unilateral opening up policy, meaning international visitors come to China, you already have maybe 2 weeks visa -free.
But do you see that having a much more welcome, is it a welcoming signal to international visitors?
So far what is the impact?
Must result? Very good growth.
If we look at the global markets, Thailand does the best job.
The inbound contributes more than 10 percent of their GDP growth.
France, Spain, Italy also does an excellent job inbound, contributes significantly to their GDP growth.
USA, with such a big economy, inbound, contributes to 2 to 3 percent of the GDP.
So there is a huge opportunity for us.
So what we have done is give a free visa to about 40 countries, and for the other countries, We offer entrance to the visa and the entrance to hours is extended from 72 hours, which is 3 days to 240 hours which is 10 days.
So, people feel very convenient to travel into China.
And moreover, when we invite 2000 global partners into Shanghai for our global summit, after the summit.
We charted six big planes to take them from Shanghai to Zhang Jiajie where the movie Evertow was filmed.
They were all so pleasantly surprised.
They told me China is so safe, very clean, people are very friendly.
You have rich history, the infrastructure such as high -speed railway is outstanding and the price is very reasonable.
So, I think through trouble So people really see what's going on in China and seeing is believing.
It's much better than what you hear on the news.
Chinese businesses now is embracing a new wave of going global.
Of course, there's a complexity of reasons why this is happening.
Tripp .com group has been a pioneer in doing that.
You're a global company.
I remember you told me years ago, we are not just C -Trip anymore.
We're a trip .com. What does that transformation mean to you?
And how do you see the latest rounds of Chinese businesses going global?
Yeah, sure. Travel by nature is very global, because when we have a hotel it's not only going to be used by Asian customers.
People in the Middle East, in Africa, in Europe, they can all use it.
So travel by nature is very global.
So we are bringing a very comprehensive product offerings to our customers.
For example, when you fly from Singapore to New York, if you are taking business class or first class, we will promote five -star hotel to you.
And then once you select a hotel in New York, for example, four seasons in hotel, we'll calculate the distance between JFK to four seasons.
and we'll offer limousine services for you, and after you check in, we'll tell you, oh, there is missioning restaurants nearby.
As long as I have Jane, I've got everything done.
Everything, so one -stop shopping really empowers people to see the world.
The second thing we're doing very well is customer service level.
If you call our call center, within 30 seconds, we can use 30 languages to help you to solve the issues, And if something happened during a trip, for example, there is a tsunami in Japan, Middle East might have some conflicts.
Within two minutes, our team will reach out to the customers and make sure we transfer them to the safe hotel.
We offer hot meal, hot shower.
And if they decide to come back to their home countries, we'll make prioritized arrangement to make sure they are home on time.
You know Chinese businesses going global in the new wave.
Yeah. What is the nature of this?
Yeah, Chinese people are very adventurous as the Company is growing stronger.
The customers are not going to be only limited within one country but rather it's going to be global just like what happened in Japan in Korea, they have been in faces Starting from a domestic company gradually serve more and more customers and developing more and more business relationship in the global markets which is very positive.
But of course there has because of properly information deficit so when Chinese companies going global there seems to be misunderstanding and things like that saying oh the Chinese are coming you know almost like a threat what a challenge.
What do you make of these you know different, how shall I say different waves of misunderstanding, and vis -a -vis Chinese companies, there's strong desire to go global still.
Yeah, if you look at in the 80s, when Japanese companies went to USA, it's similar, alright?
Japanese are coming, but if your product is good, service is good, consumer will have a pick.
I believe whichever company offers the best product with excellent and customer service will be very liked by their consumers.
So it should be coming down gradually.
China -U .S. Relations, as you said, you are in the travel business, Jane.
And you need to have global partners.
You need to have global operations as well.
China -U .S. Relations as a result, as one of the most important bilateral relations, certainly matters in your business and to yours, particularly.
What is the temperature you're feeling right now?
Travel globally contributes quite a lot to 10 % of the GDP growth rate, 10 % of the job opportunity.
So wherever we bring our customer to, almost every country wants to fight for Trip .com customers, travel is something that can bring people together.
That is Jane Sun, CEO of Trip .com Group, talking with my colleague Tian Wei, and that's all time we have for this edition of World Today.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
I'm Zhao Ying, thank you so much for listening.
See you next time.
