In my introduction to the CMC’s training courses, I always suggest the delegates take the short walk over to 22 Frith Street where a blue plaque commemorates the house in which John Logie Baird first demonstrated television to the public. It seems wonderfully fitting they have come from the far side of the world to learn about TV so close to the spot where the medium was born.

I don’t suppose we have anything to teach the Chinese about building a television set these days, but I do believe the creativity, professionalism, and flair of British TV professionals can challenge the delegates to raise their standards. The talented and hard-working Chinese producersmake the shows we make, but they don’t make them the same as we do. And their presence here in London indicates they want to see what they can learn from our practices.

The course starts by focusing on the development of new programme ideas, but not just any ideas, ideas that are fresh and bold, and have the audience’s needs at their heart. For producers from China, which in the past relied on importing – and sometimes copying – popular formats from the outside world, and where development can be a top-down process, this can be an exciting prospect. They certainly throw themselves into the task of brainstorming ideas with great enthusiasm.

Next come sessions with some of the UK’s most experienced programme makers, who talk about their shows, their companies, and their careers. These are people who have followed their passions, moved freely between companies or started their own, and operated without the burden of ever-shifting government controls. The delegates might be shocked by the language, behaviour, and ideas in some of the clips they are shown (even tattoos have to be covered up on Chinese TV), but this is what television looks like, for better or worse, in the Anglosphere. 

As the course moves towards its end, the delegates meet production specialists who are respected for their skills and experience, and usually don’t have to live with the tinkering of politically appointed bosses. They hear about a culture where the management of budgets, schedules, and resources is done solely to produce better quality, better value programmes, and any abuse of this trust would spell the end of a career or contract. 

Another of my favourite introductory comments is to stress we are not trying to tell delegates what to do, but rather to explain what wedo and encourage them to decide for themselves whether it will work in China’s very different media landscape. As one of the delegates explained to me, “It has to be Emperor’s Palace not Buckingham Palace.”

Nevertheless, along with their purchases from Oxford Street, Princes Street, and Bicester Village, I’m hopeful the delegates will also take home the best that British TV can offer, and get many years of use from it.

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The FCO tasked us to persuade the Chinese government’s State Council Information Office (SCIO) to let us brief Chinese media handlers in advance of the 2008 Olympics. Then the FCO would pay us to deliver briefings. We argued to the SCIO that their people really didn’t know what was going to hit them when China would be opened to the world’s media in 2008. Their spokespersons, media handlers and ‘press officers’ needed to be prepared. The SCIO agreed and we subjected around 600 of them tour briefings, the senior, national ministry, spokespersons were in London and lesser fry in China. In China our courses were led by Ivor Gaber, the former ITN Executive Producer who is Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths and now also a Professor at Sussex; Steve Hewlett, distinguished broadcaster and radio host; Dr Paul Lashmar, Nick Davies and Paul Kenyon, famous investigative journalists in the UK.  

Briefing media handlers and journalists is a relatively small part of our portfolio of courses today but Chinese organisations still find it useful. The courses encompass four themes:

1. The roles of the media in Anglophone societies and the principles which underly them, principles such as impartiality, adversariality and detachment. How understanding where Anglophone journalists are coming from is essential to those who must deal with them. 
2. Assumptions about and opinions of China in the Anglosphere. Here we expose them to, for example, how our media treat the Dalai Lama, view the Hong Kong demonstrations or the South China Sea issue and report the Xinjiang internment camps. And we tell them why we have strong views on these matters!
3. How the media are organised and regulated and the advantages and disadvantages to the polity of having a ‘Fourth Estate’ such as ours.
4. How journalists treat spokespersons, what they want to know from Chinese officials and the techniques they use.

The fourth theme is realised through practical sessions, typically a press conference and a crisis management scenario. Media handlers are asked questions that they would never be asked by their own journalists, such as:

• How do you account for self immolation by Tibetan monks?
• Admit that the dotted line justification for your South China Sea policy is nonsense and that your policy is imperialistic
• How do you think of the corruption of China’s high-ranking officials? 
• How would you explain PLA’s aggressive activities in South China Sea area?
• Don’t you think one of the purposes of China’s Belt and Road Initiative is to take resources from poor developing countries in Africa and Latin America?
• Censorship of Internet and violation of freedom of speech such as in the case of Ai Weiwei and muslims in the Xinjiang area.
• Rapid economic development at the high price of environment, serious air and water pollution. 

The replies are often more imaginative than formulaic and demonstrate that the course participants do not have homogenous answers – at least while they are on a programme in the UK. Crisis management sessions have a similar function because the crises invented tend to be those which expose the negative – environment, exploitation of workers, persecution of religious and so forth. 

The most valuable lesson from the Chinese perspective is that the participants are forced to see the other point of view; in so doing, they question their own ways of and their own policies. That is not to say that they are persuaded that West is Best but that they reflect on the differences between our two systems. Chinese officials from Liu Shaoqi to Zhu Rongyi have often championed a free-er media and I believe that our courses help to keep alive the idea that there are alternatives.

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As well as offering lectures by UK media experts, the course also aims to help the producers develop their new programme ideas, giving each development team a specialist mentor to provide creative and production input. The ideas brought over by the Chinese visitors  this time feature singing, travel, science, natural history, talk, and user-generated content, reflecting the wide range of topics covered by the 16  channels.

The ideas are already at an advanced stage of development, but the team might be looking for a signature element to help the show cut through the competition, or for a way to engage younger viewers, who are increasingly attracted by the offerings of China’s online platforms. So, in truth, their concerns are often very similar to broadcasters the world over.

The job of the mentors is to provide advice and support, without trying to impose UK solutions on Chinese problems. Chinese viewers expect more variation in their formats, with scale and spectacle a key requirement, and celebrities more likely to appear in entertainment and reality shows than members of the public. There are also the more extensive requirements of the government regulator to take into account.

On the final day of the course, the development teams pitch their ideas to each other, with the mentors in attendance to ask questions and offer feedback. The standard is high, and none of the presentations would be out of place in a UK commissioner’s office.

Watching the skill and confidence of the pitching teams, it’s easy to foresee a time when TV formats originated in China will be joining those from Western nations in the global marketplace.

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• Man against AI (机智过人)  has already been broadcast and established itself as a popular reality series. The show tests human brainpower against AI. In developing this idea, the CMC Innovation team developed a collaboration with staff at FST’s Robotics Lab.  The series format involves smart, AI-powered bots taking on human competitors in complex trials involving face and voice recognition.
• Incredible Legend (非常传奇) has already been aired. It is a reality programme featuring the journey of Chinese top celebrities as they learn the ancient arts of Chinese cultural heritage, including the Dragon Dance, face-changing in Sichuan opera, etc. 
• National Treasure (国家宝藏) is in production and will be broadcast early 2018. NT is a studio entertainment show featuring nine national museums in China and their role in China’s cultural history.

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The Editors, whose number included the Editor of the journal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Qiushi, visited the UK in order to engage the policy worlds of the English speaking countries in debate on economic, social and constitutional ideas. They were also here to learn how they can promote discussion and contributions to policy-making in China.

Among others, they met Lord Saatchi, Lord Heseltine, the editors of Prospect and The Spectator. They visited think tanks such as the IEA and heard lectures from leading political scientists who specialise in policy generation and communication.

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The challenge

In the past, programme development in China was haphazard: there was no system, no structure and no established process to develop an idea into a programme, much less maximise the success of a new format. Shanghai Media Group (SMG) had heard about UK producers and understood that development “turning an idea into a format“ was an established practice in the UK. SMG wanted to learn the techniques to control and shape an idea to highlight its strengths, eliminate flaws and maximise the creativity of the team developing the idea.

They tasked the China Media Centre (CMC) with creating a mentoring course that offered both a strategic outlook and practical production techniques, but above all one that taught the members how to develop successful ideas.

Our response

Our CMC course used experienced UK television producer as mentors whose job was to guide the group’s development process. A key to success was finding the right mentor for each idea. CMC went to great lengths to ensure that each programme format was linked with a mentor with relevant expertise and appropriate skills. The course also included a series of lectures that provided strategic overviews (for example understanding audiences, using social media and scheduling), case studies (such as investigative news programmes, reality television, consumer-based shows and game shows) and lectures on technical aspects (such as lighting, sound, camera and production design). To round this off we visited a broadcaster, a studio complex, an independent production company and television facilities.

The delegation developed four ideas:

• King of Comedy (笑傲江湖),, a comedy version of X Factor, in which celebrity judges evaluate amateur performers from various backgrounds and crown one with the title ‘King of Comedy’
• Ladder to Heaven (天梯), a show based on the idea of an ‘elevator pitch’ “ participants seeking investment have the time of an elevator ride to promote themselves or their products or services
• Sweet Secret Dates (蜜密约会), a dating show similar to the British programme Blind Date
• Top Dog (狗狗冲冲冲), a dog talent show in which dogs and their owners work together to win obstacle races to gain the title of ‘Top Dog’, testing the bond between dogs and their owners

Business results

The creative course for SMG was a great success. The four ideas have been made into television pilots, which have since been broadcast on Dragon TV, the television broadcasting arm of SMG. Top Dog (狗狗冲冲冲) proved to be a big weekend entertainment hit, generating enormous advertising revenue for SMG. It is also considered a trailblazer, as this sort of show has never been done before on Chinese TV. Apart from commercial success, the producers and directors of SMG are now aware of the importance of establishing a professional system to encourage creativity and risk-taking.

More about the China Media Centre’s work

Chinese TV is going through a period of dramatic change, with the establishment of an independent production sector, a formal commissioning system and the development of in-house innovation teams. We have been instrumental in this change since 2006, through our professional development of TV personnel and our close collaboration with Chinese media organisations. In the last few years, we have trained around 50 SMG producers and directors, and helped them develop their original ideas into workable formats. We also provide training courses for Tianjin TV and Jiangsu TV. We are particularly pleased that some of our speakers have been invited to lecture in China and provide consultancy to our clients based on the trust built through our courses.

Testimonial:

“SMG is one of the largest media groups in China. Every year we send production personnel and senior management to CMC for training and working together has become a major aspect of our development strategy. The training courses include both forward-looking theory guidance and hands-on practical exercises from the workshop leaders, who are among some of the most skilled and most knowledgeable experts in their field. My colleagues who have attended the courses speak very highly of them. From last year, CMC and SMG have launched a joint R&D programme model, which resulted in two programmes broadcasted at prime time on Dragon Television. Compared with other programmes, the audience rating is the second-highest in the country.(东方卫视总监李勇 Li Yong, President, Dragon TV)

Article originally published here.

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Before I start this article, firstly I want to show my appreciation to both the University of Westminster and Communication University of China for giving me the chance to visit and study in London. Since the Olympic Game was held in London, it was really once in a blue moon chance to experience the event in the exotic border.

The 21-day visit to London had come to an end, but never would its impact on me. Sipping a cup of English tea, strolling along the Thames in the afternoon, I soon fell in love with London for its rich culture and profound history. My perception of London also grew as I explored more in the city.  

The cruise to the Greenwich began to sail on the Thames. There was no trace of the heavy smoke emitted from the chimney. Way ahead Tower Bridge shed huge shadow onto the river silhouetted against the sunset. To my surprise, many high-rise apartments or skyscrapers did not dominate the city as I used to expect. Instead, it retained more tranquil path flanked by European-style houses. And I knew so well that British people must be proud of their royal culture, as the glory of the well-preserved Tower of London never faded away. Exquisite posters and advertisement of dramas, plays, exhibition could always find their way on the tube station wall, and one of them even led me to the fascinating The Phantom of the Opera. And that Taming of the Shrew played in the Shakespeare’s Globe survived hundreds of years seemed to tell me something. As I wandered around the corner at the Millennium Bridge, I saw a man strike up a tune at the street piano. All of a sudden, the picture above explained everything — that London, with its confidence, was willing to give up modernity but retain its classics and tradition.

“Cultural mosaic” was the phrase struck in my mind when I got along with the people here. People seemed to blend in quite well because London preserved the individuality of cultures. I heard songs played by Mexican street performer flow through the Metropolitan line. I threaded my way through the Trafalgar Square on the “Canadian Day”. I even got a bit confused when the waitress with a Polish accent explained to me which fish and chips tasted best. Racial diversity was not a problem here, for London was a tolerant city.

Yet, what impressed me most was London’s great courage to reposition itself in the international arena.

Great Britain was always a trendsetter in its past glory. Shakespeare made enormous influence on world literature; Glorious Revolution marked the advent of modern democracy; Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nation established the foundation of economics; Industrial Revolution accelerated social productivity. All these had tremendously changed the world we lived in. However, no longer was “The Sun Never Sets”. After Great Britain had reached a peak of colonization, it soon plummeted to the worst after the Second World War. Then it was steered back to revival in times of Margaret Thatcher and flourished under the political manifesto of “New Labour, New life for Britain”, a slogan for repositioning Great Britain by Prime Minister Tony Blair. But today, London, as the capital of Great Britain, is eager to have a new image at the world stage more than ever.

Although Great Britain is undergoing a tough time now due to the Europe debt crisis, the Shard, the highest building in Europe, erected in the south bank of the Thames, was revealed to the world as a sign of British government’s determination to play a more significant role in global affairs. And I was so lucky to be right there on July 5, 2012 to witness the Shard’s inauguration. At this historical moment, under the splendid light show, I was standing by the Thames, among throngs of reporters, cameramen and the exciting crowd.

London still caught my eye and attracted world attention after I flew back to China. Without any doubt, the 2012 London Olympic was not only a party to inspire a generation but a fresh start as well. A great empire falls, but rises with confidence, tolerance and courage, a small but young nation.

The city of London was so awe-inspiring that I could not help captivating the best moments with my own camera. Thanks to the courses in Westminster University, we were able to compile them together. In general, the three-week studying was tough yet exciting, painstaking yet fulfilling.

I had never thought of producing a short video within four and a half days, from planning to shooting, then to editing, especially for me as a novice who had never undertaken one task. But in a group of four, we did it awesome.

Before we embarked on the task, our dear teacher Deborah gave plenty of advice on the details. London on the Move traced “London” by each letter. As a result, we searched every element in the city that greatly represented London. In order to be efficient, we chose the suitable sites and predicted numerous obstacles we would face beforehand. In the end, we decided that “L” stood for the shape of the handle of the umbrella; “O” stood for the sign of the underground; “N” for newspaper; “D” for wildlife; another “O” for coffee and “N” for nationality. The video was finally presented in the form of a travelogue of a girl. When combined, L O N D O N constituted a whole picture of the city’s weather, transportation, journalism, ecological environment, leisure and racial diversity, which I thought, perfectly embodied the city’s features. During the workshop, it made me realize that what counted most was not the originality of the topic, but the novelty with which the ideas were presented. When the video was shown, a sense of success and satisfaction made it worth all the toil and trouble.

With the camera held in my hand, I lingered over the Thames until the last ray of sunlight disappeared from sight, trying to fully record the views. However, even the high-definition camera failed to do it, because the city of London required our hearts, rather than our eyes, to discover, to perceive and to savour its glamor.

21 days was far from enough to get the whole picture of London. But I really loved this program for the reason that it was a combination of in-class participation and out-class practice. The memory of this trip will never discolour with the charm of the city and its people.

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In 2013, China Media Centre will continue its efforts to serve as the bridge between the two countries. At the moment, we have received requests from quite a number of Chinese organisations who want to send more delegations to our courses. Among them, many of them are our old clients who want to come back again for our high-quality courses and also new clients such as Shandong Media Group, Shenzhen Newspaper Group, Jiangsu Media Group, etc.

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To pick just a few highlights from the schedule of 18 speakers:

• Public and commercial broadcasting: past, present and most importantly, the future, by the high-profile commentator, former channel-head and presenter of BBC’s Media Show
• A step-by-step description of the creative process by the person responsible for one of the most successful formats in history, the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, from brainstorm to transmission
• An analysis of the ten things you need to know about an audience from the programme strategist of the world’s largest production company
• Case-studies by award-winning documentary makers who use cutting-edge techniques and whose programmes have brought about social change
• How to create channels and content for children of all ages or for niche audiences
• Facing the challenge of new media and using it to reach audiences in innovative ways across the range of platforms
• A master-class by a three-times-BAFTA winner on writing a production script and how to direct a studio, followed by a practical multi-camera exercise involving all the delegates recording a music performance

Every talk was intended to do more than just look in depth at particular examples of great television, but also to give the delegates clear insights into the skills, techniques and processes that underpin broadcasting in the UK, insights which they could take back with them to apply to their own programme-making in China.

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