Nearly 200 journalists from more than 90 media outlets in China and foreign countries joined in a city interview tour on Aug. 30 before the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) kicks off.
The tour was organized by the media center of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC and the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal People's Government.
Centering on the topics of "construction of China's high-speed railways" and "Beijing joining hands with Africa," the tour on Thursday took the journalists from over 60 countries and regions to the command center of China railway and a Beijing section of the tracks, the Chinese pharmaceutical company Tong Ren Tang, and the construction site of the capital's new airport.
At the China railway command center in the morning, journalists watched a promo video "China Railway," and officials briefed the journalists on the capabilities of the command center and the development of China's high-speed railways. Afterward, the journalists headed for a section of the Beijing high-speed railway to learn about its maintenance and standardization.
African journalists were most interested in the international cooperation of high-speed railways. They said that with the ongoing construction of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Laos railway, they hoped that China could share its experience in building high-speed railways with African countries.
On the afternoon, the journalists went to the museum of Tong Ren Tang, the largest producer of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). They learned about the history and ongoing development of TCM as well as the overseas cooperation between Tong Ren Tang and its foreign partners.
On the last leg of the tour, the journalists visited the construction site of Beijing's new airport, where they watched a promo video and was briefed about the ongoing construction as well the international cooperation between the Beijing Urban Construction Group (the airport builder) and African countries.
The city interview tour will last through Sept. 2. A total of 10 guided tours are provided to help journalists to learn about Beijing's urban planning, central axis, scientific and technological innovation, cultural innovation, etc.