"What amazed me is the extent to which China has modernized, from sci-tech innovation, agriculture, to many other aspects. The country has set an example for the rest of the world, especially for Eastern Europe, my homeland," marveled Tania, a journalist from the Bulgarian Duma newspaper, after she visited Pinggu District.

The first activity of the 2023 "Foreign Journalists Visit Beijing" series of events kicked off on March 8. Invited by Beijing Foreign Affairs Office and Pinggu District Government, 65 journalists from mainstream media outlets in 57 countries to cover China's NPC and CPPCC sessions visited High-Tech Farming Z-Park in Pinggu District and had an immersive experience of the new changes in Beijing.

Foreign Journalists Visit High-Tech Farming Z-Park

This was a technology-focused trip. At WOD Chen-Long Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a company specializing in poultry breeding, chicken products, and digital economy, Zhang Lingfang, a reporter from Malaysia's Sing Chew Daily, was fascinated by everything from the advanced laying hen breeding workshop to the intelligent laying hen information platform that integrates online and offline breeding, trading and financial services. "Compared with Beijing's cutting-edge livestock farming, Malaysia is still lagging behind in this regard. I would like to learn more about it in the future," she added.

Jingwa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Center has showcased a number of recent advances in the High-Tech Farming Z-Park. The digital hall and labs, as well as the Xmeats labs, gave them a better understanding of the efforts made by Pinggu District in promoting independent technological innovation in livestock and poultry breeding, digital agriculture pilots, and agricultural modernization as well as rural revitalization powered by sci-tech innovation.

In the new cold-formed steel sunlight greenhouse of the "Doctoral Farms" in Nanying Village, automation and control system, environment monitoring system, and intelligent irrigation system enable autonomous farming, while big data and cloud computing technology make agricultural production much more efficient.

Constantine, a journalist from the New Observer in Burkina Faso, was keen to introduce advanced agricultural technologies to Africa, noting that "be it smart chicken farming or digital agriculture, these leading technologies and intelligent management models have great prospects in the African market".

In addition to the innovation in agricultural science and technology, they also felt close to the capital's profound, inclusive, and open culture. At the Violin Experience Center of Huadong Musical Instrument Co., Ltd., they were shown the instrument-making process, witnessing the interaction between the musical cultures of East and West. At the workshops of Zixingyuan (Beijing) Food Technology Co., Ltd., they learned about how traditional Beijing snacks are produced with modern techniques and how time-honored brands have evolved.

As the event was launched on March 8, the journalists also celebrated International Women's Day by participating in a cooking competition and an exhibition of intangible cultural heritage organized by the Pinggu Women's Federation.

At the end of their trip, many of them had such a great time and thought highly of Beijing's practices in technology-driven and green agriculture, expressing their willingness to serve as a bridge for cross-cultural interaction and international cooperation through their media channels. "This is a nice place, clean, highly mechanized, and technologically developed. I am expecting more chances to look around Beijing during my stay in the next four months," said Mewati Sitaram, editor in chief, Mumbai Messenger, India.

Planned by Beijing Foreign Affairs Office, the "Foreign Journalists Visit Beijing" series of events focuses on the capital's development in the new era, the role of the Five Key Initiatives in the new development paradigm, business environment improvement as well as the priorities of each district. By combining visits with immersive experiences, foreign journalists are invited to visit Beijing and learn about its rapidly unleashing vitality, thus creating a favorable external environment for economic recovery to support the capital's high-quality development.

(Reporter: Fan Junsheng)

(Photo and video source: Beijing Foreign Affairs Office)