On April 17th, on the occasion of World Book Day, the "Book Fragrance Under the Pagoda Trees, Chinese Expatriates Reading Around the World" reading-sharing event was held in Jinan, Shandong Province. Ma Qiang, Executive Vice President of the Egyptian Chinese Cultural Exchange Association and Editor-in-Chief of the Arabic version of China News Weekly shared his experiences and thoughts on translating and publishing Chinese cultural classics in Arabic-speaking countries, promoting Chinese culture and entrepreneurship.

Ma Qiang brought some representative works to the event for interaction, sharing with guests the reactions to the translations and publications of Chinese national conditions in Arabic-speaking countries since the reform and opening up, such as "The Road to Prosperity" and "China's Development," as well as Chinese cultural classics like "Ancient Chinese Traditional Historical Stories." Li Zhen moderated the event from the “Heart Bridge” Psychological Counseling Special Commission and was head of Shandong Daxue Education Technology Co., Ltd. The host and audience recited representative works, exchanged experiences, and received rounds of applause.

"When I was studying in Egypt, I was always questioned about why Chinese people have money to study or travel abroad, and I was even mistakenly taken for Japanese or Korean, which made me feel uncomfortable. Their impression of China is still that of a poor and backward country, even without cars... Whenever this happened, I couldn't help but sigh that there was still no media in Egypt that could introduce the real China to the local people and provide information services for Chinese expatriates. So I had a firm idea: to find an opportunity to introduce the real China to Egypt!" As Vice President of the Egyptian Chinese Cultural Exchange Association, Ma Qiang is committed to promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, using culture as a medium to build bridges between China and Egypt. Through the establishment of "China Weekly," Ma Qiang has enabled more Egyptians to learn about China through the newspaper, showcasing the continuous economic development achieved by China and the new face of Chinese social development to the local people. With the development of digitalization since 2016, the publicity platform created by Ma Qiang has embarked on a new media transformation path and established multiple overseas media matrices, simultaneously focusing on creating high-quality external publicity content and expanding external publicity channels. The media fan base on the social platform he created has reached nearly tens of millions, among which the Arabic version of the "China Weekly" client app, "Middle East Headlines," has attracted more attention. "Our audience is no longer limited to Egypt, but has expanded to the Gulf region and even to Arabs living in Europe."

Returning to the motherland this year, Ma Qiang plans to contribute to foreign exchange and communication work after years of preparation. In May 2023, as part of the "High-Level Talent Entering Shandong" initiative, he will invite seven mainstream foreign media friendly to China (from Egypt, Italy, Malaysia, Macau, Portugal, Romania, Japan, etc.) to hold the "Foreign Media Perspective on Shandong" event. They will visit cities such as Jinan and Dongying. The experiences and interviews of foreign journalists will open a window for the world to understand China and Shandong, setting an example for promoting urban internationalization.

"In the future, I will continue to assist the government in increasing efforts to attract overseas talents, establish an overseas talent database, fully utilize the advantages of overseas media publicity, spread the positive voice of China, and tell the story of Jinan well." Ma Qiang said he would do his best to strengthen China's international communication efforts.

(Li Xiaotong; Gong Lili; Hua Shan; Yuan Yuhua; Liu Xiaohan; Lou Xinyu; Hou Yawen; Liang Ruixin; Li Jiayin; Liu Lu; Xu Jiayi; Yang Yang; Chong Yaqi; Yuan Yaning）