Forty-four Chinese cultural icons have been handpicked by the state as ambassadors of Chinese storytelling last Friday, April 8, at a meeting hosted by the State Council Information Office in Beijing, China Daily reported.
Mo Yan, a Nobel laureate storyteller, along with Jackie Chan, Lang Lang and Yao Ming, was among the chosen few.
"As China becomes a big player in the world, from the government leaders down to the ordinary people, all tell China's stories to the world," said Mao in the report. "Some of them use words, others use their actions. For example, our workers help build bridges and highways abroad, doctors and nurses work in Africa, the Chinese Navy fights piracy in the Gulf of Aden. . . . Their stories are juicy sources for us Chinese writers."
Mo added, "To me, the power comes from China, the country suffering so much in past hundred years. I draw nutrition and inspiration from the country."
When asked about the best way to tell China's story, Mo said that drawing from personal experiences would be the best place to start.
As for Yao Ming, to tell China's story is to communicate more often with people from other cultures. Yao shared his personal experiences as a basketball player, first arriving in Houston in 2002.
"They did not know that we Chinese athletes got very tough training from childhood and that we always have the mission in mind to fight together with the team," Yao said.
Bridging cultural gaps, according to Yao, allows different groups of people to realize things they have in common. Chinese and Western societies, for example, both share a passion for helping others.
"In China, we also have the old moral to respect seniors and love kids," Yao said. "We Chinese are also taught to help each other when we are young. We just do the same thing in different ways."
Jackie Chan, who became a household name in both Chinese cinema and Hollywood, used kung fu and movies to tell China's stories.
"Whenever I work with movie production teams from Hollywood and Europe, I invite them to shoot the movies in China so that they can experience the real China, talking with the people, tasting the food, and getting to know the country better," Chan said.