Short videos awarded for showcasing China's beauty

The award ceremony for the 2022 "My China Story" International Short Video Competition was held on Monday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, to celebrate stories told by global content producers and internet influencers on China and the Chinese people.

Initiated by China International Communications Group (CICG) and organized by Xufang International Media, the annual competition was first launched in 2018 and has attracted over 800,000 submissions from over 100 countries since its inception.

For this year's contest, which encouraged participants to submit entries based on the upcoming 19th Asian Games Hangzhou, some 65,000 videos from over 31 countries and regions were collected. After three rounds of reviews from 22 professional judges, a total of 72 works were eventually selected for honour. Over 200,000 yuan ($30,380) in prize money was awarded to the winners.

Jack Klumpp, an American video journalist who hosted the ceremony, believed more lesser-known stories about China can be communicated to a global audience through these videos, since China is far more than just the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terra-Cotta Warriors.

With a growing number of international bloggers taking part in the competition in the past few years, the content and forms of storytelling have become richer and more diverse, said Luo Jun, a professor from Beijing Normal University and deputy dean of its Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture.

"This shows a genuine interest in China, as well as a passion to learn about the country, be able to record and tell more stories about the Chinese culture and Chinese people," Luo said.

Qi Xiao contributed to the story.