In early autumn, deep blue night sky with sapphire lustre, high-rise buildings in CBD and their radiating lights compose a beautiful scenery of Beijing. Cheerful tunes of kuaibanr, danxianr, jinghu, enthusiastic applause and praises, beeping sounds of cameras, compose a moving song for Beijing. In this metropolis, people from all over the world use different languages to express their appreciation and love for Beijing, making the cool autumn somewhat warmer.

On the evening of October 12, the launching ceremony of the "Beijing· A Global City" Short Video Contest was held at Fanyue 108 in Chaoyang CBD, marking the start of the 3-month solicitation.

As an international metropolis with a history of more than 3,000 years as a city and more than 800 years as the capital, Beijing boasts rich cultural heritage and is at the same time inclusive, dynamic, unique and charming.

"Beijing · A Global City" Short Video Contest aims at presenting Beijing's internationality via short videos. It encourages all local citizens, enterprises and foreigners who love Beijing to provide novel perspectives and create lively content to tell the real stories of Beijing's development, international exchanges, internationalized cultural environment, etc.

The contest aims at presenting Beijing in the eyes of people from different countries, sectors, age groups. They may capture moments in this global city we see in everyday life or things people rarely know. The videos show their perception of Beijing as a famous historical and cultural city, the capital of an ancient civilization, and most importantly, a global city. It is hoped that video entries could provide a multi-dimensional, vivid and detailed view of Beijing and highlight Beijing's openness, inclusiveness, charm, fashion, harmony and livability. As the Beijing Olympic Winter Games are coming, the organizer hoped the contest could create a good atmosphere for it and display Beijing's vigor and enthusiasm.

At the launching ceremony, Yu Haiyong, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, said that by strengthening Beijing's role as the center for international exchanges, Beijing is committed to building the city into a world-class metropolis that is harmonious and liveable, the most important place for China's major diplomatic and foreign affairs activities, a central hub leading global science and technology innovation, an important window to show Chinese cultural self-confidence, diversity and inclusiveness, and a center for international exchanges showing China's capacity of global governance.

Solicitation from both the Internet and Invited Content Creators

The contest is open to the public while calling for professional engagement, highlighting its feature of attracting both amateurs and professionals. All local citizens, enterprises and foreigners who love Beijing are encouraged to participate.

Multi-channel Promotion of the Top Works

The official website of the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office and Guangming Online will set up special website pages for "Beijing · A Global City". Beijing Foreign Affairs Office will also cooperate with the official websites (Chinese and English) of Beijing Municipal Government, Kuaishou, WeSee and other new media platforms to further promote the outstanding works in the contest.

A Combination of Online and Offline Activities

After the launching ceremony, the host will organize four offline major activities in Yanqi Lake, Beijing Daxing International Airport, and other places. The activities are themed on "serving China's overall diplomacy", "improving comprehensive carrying capacity", "improving international service environment", among others.

At the launching ceremony, the organizer played a series of teaser videos, which received warm applause.

Professor Qu Ru, Director of Beijing Institute for International Communication of Beijing International Studies University, spoke highly of the teaser videos, saying that she was impressed by the excellent films. She believes that "personal narratives have a unique appeal. The real life and taste of ordinary people offer a new angle to present Chinese culture and Beijing's image in a more natural way".

Justa, a presenter from Poland, said that "I have lived in Beijing for 12 years and witnessed Beijing's rapid development. In Beijing's hutongs, I found a lot of nice cafés. Douzhir (a traditional Chinese fermented drink) and I are just like coffee and hutongs. Such a special combination only exists in the inclusive and global city of Beijing. I love Beijing, both its tradition and modernity fascinate me".

The event is open to both individual and team participants, who may present short videos about activities or scenes that best showcase Beijing as a global city. Videos shall be no longer than 2 minutes, and the deadline for submission is December this year. Entrants can use mobile phones or other video recording equipment to shoot the video and upload their videos to the new media platform Kuaishou with the hashtag “#北京·国际范儿” (#Beijing·A Global City). An expert panel set up by the contest organizer will then review the videos, publish the results, and honour winners with the first, second and third prizes and awards for best creativity, best organization etc. Winners will receive award certificates and bonuses for production.

At the launching ceremony, appointment letters were offered to the 10 domestic and foreign members of the expert panel. They are: Song Leyong, Deputy General Manager of Guangming Online; Zhang Ying, Executive Dean of the China Institute of Public Policy Translation of Beijing International Studies University; Wang Qing, Dean of School of Art and Communication of Beijing Technology and Business University; Tao Lili, Director of Foreign Affairs Office of Chaoyang District; Sha Lin, Planning Supervisor of Kuaishou Science; Meng Jie, Head of Positive Energy Promotion at Tencent Wesee; Mads Lundegaard (Denmark), Foreign Teacher of Beijing Foreign Studies University; Douglas K. Prescott, Head of School at Canadian International School of Beijing; JongMay Urbonya(USA), Moderator of Kid's English Channel; and Bae Danbi (Korea), International Student from China University of Political Science and Law.

Messages from Experts

"I hope that my American friends could see what it is really like to live in Beijing. We do not go to the Forbidden City or the Great Wall every day. Instead, we drink coffee and go to convenience stores every day. These are also interesting things." – JongMay Urbonya

"In my opinion, Beijing is a global city as it provides world-class social management and city services, its citizens show great civility, and more importantly, it has an open, inclusive and diverse atmosphere. When using short videos to present a global Beijing, it is important to choose themes and content that can resonate with domestic and foreign audiences so that they are easy to watch and share." – Zhang Ying

The "Beijing· A Global City" Short Video Contest is hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, organized by Guangming Online, co-organized by foreign affairs offices of each district of Beijing and supported by Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Overseas Talents Center, Kuaishou and WeSee. All local citizens, enterprises and foreigners who love Beijing are encouraged to participate, explore small things in their lives, and use short videos to present a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of Beijing as a global city and capture its vigor, color, and atmosphere.