Media center of 2024 FOCAC summit starts operations

The media center of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) started operations on Monday.

The center provides services such as radio and television coverage, official photos, and conference information to both Chinese and foreign journalists.

It will hold its first press briefing on Monday afternoon, where relevant departments and officials will provide detailed information about the FOCAC summit scheduled in Beijing from Sept. 4 to 6.

The summit, which will be held under the theme of "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future," has seen registration from over 3,000 Chinese and foreign journalists, reaching a new high in the history of the FOCAC summits.

The Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, to be held by China Media Group (CMG), will provide a stunning visual feast through the ingenious combination of state-of-the-art technologies and picturesque landscape scenery, aiming to impress the audience via delicate stage designs in romantic and aesthetic settings.

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Tuesday this year. CMG has announced that the gala is going to take place in Shenyang City, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The stage for the upcoming gala has been set on the lakeside of Dingxiang Lake in Shenyang City as the event is aimed to present an impressive "beautiful, sincere, lyrical, and romantic" artistic vision.

Nestled against the lake, the circular stage featuring a 360-degree panorama highlights the integration of art and modern technologies.

The biggest highlight and innovation of the stage design is a movable "full moon". With a diameter of 12 meters, the moon weighing 10 tons sits on the main stage and casts light on the rippling water.

"The use of water is a feature of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala. We hope that the mutual reflections of the images will evoke longing for family reunion. These buildings with styles of Ming and Qing dynasties, the typical and simple Chinese moon gate, we hope that through graphics, modeling, physical scenery set and the overall structural setting of the stage, we can combine Chinese aesthetics with modernity and infuse the Chinese aesthetics in the Mid-Autumn Festival stage creation, so as to present them to Chinese people around the world," said Wang Chen, director of stage art of the gala.

"When I got here and saw it today, I thought the stage setting is so beautiful. The big moon delivers an artistic conception. And there is a pavilion by the water. When a performer stands inside and sing, it looks like a beautiful painting. This time I will sing a very beautiful song, and I'll also dance in my performance. I hope people will like it," said Jin Chen, a performer.

In addition to the theme of family reunion, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival Gala also incorporates patriotism, as well as precious video clips showcasing the development of the country.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a significant traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the night when the moon reaches its fullest and brightest on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.

During the festival, family members would come together, share mooncakes while admiring the moon, and light up lanterns to enjoy the happiness of family reunion.