Wenzhou English portal goes online

A new English online portal for the city of Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province – ezhejiang.gov.cn/wenzhou/ – was launched on Oct 19.

Among those attending the launch ceremony was Hu Jianjin, director of the publicity department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee, and Ma Zhenhuan, chief of the China Daily Zhejiang Bureau, along with representatives of local municipal departments, media, regions, colleges and universities.

"To create a better city image, Wenzhou has established several platforms for international publicity – such as the Center for Wenzhou News and Cultural Information, as well as the website and WeChat account of the Wenzhou Overseas Publicity Center – which will accelerate the formation of Wenzhou's 'information harbor'," said Ma in his keynote speech.

"The newly constructed Wenzhou English portal will take Wenzhou's opening-up to a higher level and expand new space for the city's international communications development," he added.

At the ceremony, Hu lauded the online debut of the Wenzhou English portal and the launch of IN WENZHOU – the first prefecture-level bilingual magazine in Zhejiang province.

She said in her speech that Wenzhou was a national historic and cultural city, a pioneer of the reform and opening-up process in China, and a significant place in terms of the origin of the private economy.

With nearly 700,000 Wenzhou people now spread out in 131 countries and regions, the city has taken the initiative to develop a global cultural exchange and communications network in recent years. Having built five major foreign exchange activity brands, Wenzhou is continuing to make more efforts.

Hu said she hoped that the platforms would showcase Wenzhou's culture and other aspects in an all-round way to the world.

Backed by chinadaily.com.cn and the publicity department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee, the new online portal aims to help connect the city with international audiences, spreading the word about Wenzhou to the outside world and providing information services for expats in the city through image-texts and videos.

The Wenzhou English portal has seven main sections: About, Media Center, Overseas Publicity, Doing Business, Travel and Culture, Services, and Videos. It is expected to become an important platform for foreigners and overseas Chinese from Wenzhou, who are eager to learn more about the city.

Wenzhou, located in the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta region, boasts a rich cultural background with a history of more than 2,200 years. Furthermore, Wenzhou is where China's mercantile commerce and trade originated.