China Daily Weekly - 02.08.2019

Programscoincidewithdevelopment

needsofChinesefirmsseekingtalent

ByYANGJUN
andZHANGXIAOMINinGuiyang

A

n education alliance
is bringing more stu-
dents from countries
and regions involved
in theBelt and Road
Initiative to study inChina, with
almost 2 00 new places being created
this year for students from Mexico
alone.
Last year, 37 Mexican students
were jointly selected to join master’s
degree programs inChina by the
Mexican government and theB&R
University-EnterpriseAlliance for
TalentDevelopment.
This year, the number jumped
to 23 0 , executive secretary-general
Zhou Yong said at the 2 019 China-
ASEANEducationCooperation
Week,whichranfromJuly22to26in
Guian NewArea,Guizhou province.
“About 60Chinese companies,
including Huawei andDidi, have

set up offices in Mexico. They are in

need of talent who can speakChi-

nese. Our alliance coincides with

their development needs,” Zhou said.

Established in July 2 0 17 by the

ChinaCampus Network, theChina-

ASEANEducation and TrainingAlli-

ance and several high-profileChi-

nese enterprises, the alliance aims

to promote cooperation on talent

training between domestic universi-

ties, governments involved in the

BRI andChinese companies operat-

ing overseas.

Setting up talent training pro-

grams with member universities and

nine Mexican state governments, the

allianceheld joint exams in July to

select outstanding candidates.

Of all the LatinAmerican coun-

tries, Mexico has the most frequent

exchanges withChina in education,

culture, sports and tourism. It coop-

erates withChina in over 1 0 fields,

includinge-commerce,tourismman-

agement, engineering and big data.

“Since our alliance helps bilat-

eral trade and investment, we won

strong support from the Mexican

government,” Zhou said.

The Mexican government covers

the first year’s tuition fee, accom-

modation expenses and basic living

expenses for students, while the oth-

er three years’ expenses are shared

by the universities and the Mexican

government. Industry partners offer

internships and employment oppor-

tunities.

The alliance now has 28 member

universities and offices in 12 coun-

tries, including Russia, Mexico and

Malaysia, and maintains ties with

Chinese companies investing in

those countries.

LiuBaoli, executive secretary-gen-

eral of theChina-ASEANEducation

Cooperation Week, said the alliance

has adopted a system of “joint selec-

tion, joint funding and joint train-

ing” to create a new model for study-

ing abroad inChina.

AsaninitiatoroftheChina-ASEAN

EducationCooperation Week and an

earlymemberofthealliance,Guizhou

University has forged relationships

withuniversitiesinmembercountries

of theAssociation of SoutheastAsian

Nations via the platform.

This year’s event saw members of

overseas government institutions,

domestic universities andChinese

companies work together to devel-

op expertise and boost training and

employment.

Nine Mexican state governments

signed cooperation agreements with

universitiesoftheChinaCampusNet-

work, as didChinese tech giant Hua-

wei.Additionally, twoCC centers,N

located in Russia and Uzbekistan,

were officially launched at the event.

Zhousaidthealliancewillcontinue

to promote “customized talent train-

ing models with government par-

ticipation and university-enterprise

cooperation”,andithopestoestablish

programs with Mongolia,Cambodia

and several other countries.

“We will continue to serve local

development, promote trade and

enhance the global reputation of

Chinese universities,” Zhou added.

ZhaoYandicontributedtothis

story.

Contactthewritersat

[email protected]

Doorsopen

forstudents

fromMexico

Chinesecostumedramaaboutthreeyoungheroesinaturbulenteraexcitesfans,viewers

ByXUFAN
[email protected]

The much-anticipatedChinese TV
seriesNovoland:EagleFlagbecame
a hot topic for discussion online as
it finally hit TV screens and stream-
ing sites after a delay of more than
40 days.
Three days after itsChinese main-
land debut on July 16, the 56-episode
drama entered a string of overseas
markets, including NorthAmerica,
Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore,Cam-
bodia, Japan and South Korea.
It has been hailed on some for-
eign review aggregators that bring
together TV and film fans, with rat-
ings like 8.7 out of 1 0 on Mydramalist
and 7.8 out of 1 0 on IMDb.
AChinese take onGame of
Thrones, the costume drama chron-
icles the growing-up years of three
young would-be heroes in a turbu-
lent era that is full of wars, conspira-
cies and betrayals.

As the series is adapted from a

best-selling set of novels with the

same title, its release is also exciting

for the books’ fans.

An additional attraction for the

readers is that the novel’s writer

Yang Zhi, popularly known by his

pseudonym Jiang Nan, is the chief

scriptwriter for the TV series.

For Yang, working on the six-

volumeNovoland:EagleFlagis an

important part of his life, and the

effort spanned 12 years.

It all started in 2 00 1 when the

Anhui-born Peking University-edu-

cated Yang was pursuing a doctoral

degree in chemistry at Washington

University in St. Louis.

To deal with loneliness and aca-

demic stress, he spent a lot of time

readingChinese books, especially

about historical figures.

“In that quiet city that made out-

siders feel a bit lonely, I wrote my

first story forNovoland:EagleFlag,”

said Yang.

Novoland,orjiuzhou(nine terri-

tories), was a kind of writing project

that was launched by several writers

on then popular literature website

Qingyun in 2 00 2, and it has since

become one ofChina’s best-known

fantasy franchises.

Yang was one of the project’s ini-

tiators, and they wished to create

their own fictional world featuring

ancientChineseaesthetics.

It was an ambitious idea back then

as young writers conceived a wide

range of aspects to “build” this fic-

tionalplace,namedJiuZhou,fromits

geographical landscapes to currency.

Novolandis about human beings

coexisting with creatures who pos-

sess supernatural abilities rooted in

Chinese mythology.

For instance, in Yang’s story, Yu

Ran, the female protagonist among

thethreeyoungheroes,is depictedas

a princess — her tribe has wings and

can fly.And LyuGuichen, also one

of the three, is the heir to a nomadic

tribe leadership. He has inherited

his family’s unique genes that can

transform him into an unbeatable

warrior when he is angry.

“Ioncefeltsoexhaustedduringthe

writing process that I took a nap on

my computer’s keyboard ...Atone

point I even doubted my decision to

be a professional writer,” Yang said.

But all his hard work has paid off.

Thanks to his other popular works

such as theDragonRajaseries and

ShanghaiFortress, which has been

made into a star-studded film due

out later this year, Yang, a couple of

times, has been ranked one of the

country’s highest-paid authors by

theChinese Writers’ Rich List.

In 2 0 15,Novoland: Eagle Flag

(independently written by Yang) was

published by People’s Literature Pub-

lishing House, one ofChina’s oldest

and largest publishers, which sym-

bolizes recognition from the main-

stream literature circle.

And in 2 0 16, the Shanghai-based

production company Linmon Pic-

tures purchased the television adap-

tation rights of the novel.

To bring the TV series to life, Yang

along with veteran scriptwriters

Chang Jiang, ShuangCheng and Lei

Bo spent around two years on turn-

ing his novel into a script.

As for the casting, Yang recom-

mended actor Liu Haoran to play the

protagonist Lyu.

“I was impressed by his perfor-

mance as a smart detective in the

DetectiveChinatownmovies.”

Also in the cast are actress Song

Zu’er and actorChen Ruoxuan.

The project’s crew spent over nine

months in Xiangyang and theEnshi

Tujia and Miao autonomous prefec-

ture in Hubei province, as well as the

Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Director Zhang Xiaobo said filming

in such picturesque areas was an

effort to add reality to the fictional

story, to make it more relatable to

audiences.

Epicseriesonsmallscreen

International students visit a Huawei research center in Shanghai.PROVIDEDTOCHINADAILY

30 LIFE August 2-8, 2019 CHINA DAILY GLOBALWEEKLY