2020-03-12_Beijing_Review

44 BEIJING REVIEW MARCH 12, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

CULTURE

Finding Their

Anchors

5HYLYHGóFRQWHVWóVKRZVó79óKRVWVóKRZóWRóJRóEH\RQGó

VWXGLRóJOLW]óDQGóJODPóBy Ma Miaomiao

W

hen Li Qiyue, a TV anchor, partici-

pated in a competition for anchors

in 2011, she invited postman Cao

=KHQJIXWRWKHVWXGLRIRUDĶYHPLQXWHLQWHU

view as part of the competition event. The

interview bombed badly. Though Li asked

Cao several questions to make him tell his

story to the audience, he was an introvert

and said little. The interview ended on an

embarrassing note as both of them were

ßXVWHUHG

Last year, Li learned that the China Media

Group (CMG), an umbrella of broadcasters,

would be holding its seventh national anchor

competition in October. She signed up and

during the competition, chose Cao again as

her interviewee. However, this time instead

of asking him questions in the studio, she

followed him on his daily route to show her

audience what his life is like.

Cao’s beat is the longest postal route in

Yuxian, a county in Hebei Province, north

China, where the steep mountain ways and

the isolation of the scattered villages are a

block to communication. The 57-year-old

delivers newspapers and mails to 27 villages

along the rugged mountain roads twice a

week on foot. He is the link between villages

not yet connected to the transportation grid

and the outside world. As many young peo-

ple from the villages have gone outside for

work, Cao is also the bridge between them

and their parents through delivering pack-

ages and handing over articles of daily use.

While telling Cao’s story in the studio, Li

said it was the story of an ordinary hero who

Famous anchors from China Central Television share their stories at the press conference for the 2019 CMG Anchoring Competition in Beijing on June 6, 2019

XINHUA