Through Their Eyes on China

World Today

In this series on the 100th anniversary of the the Chinese Communist Party of China, CGTN features people from around the world who have a special connection, have made long-lasting friendships, and created treasured memories of China and its people, in history and in the making.

Through their eyes: Pioneering China Journalist Helen Snow

In 1931, a young woman from rural southern Utah had a dream of writing the great American novel. Helen Foster’s mother gave her daughter a simple Kodak camera and challenged Foster to see the world. And did she ever – traveling alone to embrace a search for adventure in China. She found love, and marriage- becoming Helen Foster Snow.

No one could have predicted what unfolded in China in the 1930’s. Snow had a front row seat to history as she blossomed into a respected international journalist. She saw war, hunger, persecution, wide-spread suffering – all while chronicled the infancy of China’s communist party.

Snow’s unflinching look at this important moment in time made her a celebrated figure in China – but at home in the United States little is known about her contributions to history. Learn more about this fascinating person.

 

Through their eyes: Cuban Diplomat Jose Robaiana

CGTN’s Luis Chirino recently interviewed Jose Luis Robaina, a former Cuban analyst who has spent a lifetime studying Chinese history, both as a former reporter in Beijing and as a diplomat at the Cuban Embassy.

Robaina says China has become the world’s second largest economy thanks to its leadership and reforms

The Dixie Mission: A lost opportunity for U.S.-China relations?

In the minds of many, U.S. engagement with the Communist Party of China began in the 1970s under President Richard Nixon.

But the first official contact between the U.S. and the CCP actually dates back to 1944.

That’s when a plane carrying a group of U.S. observers touched down in Yan’an, China, home base of the Communists, led by Mao Zedong.

This U.S. operation came to be known as “The Dixie Mission.”

CGTN’s Jim Spellman has the story of what many historians consider a lost opportunity for U.S.-China relations.

Argentina explores possibility of joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Argentina had been expected to formally join China’s Belt and Road Initiative in May.

The official state visit didn’t take place because of the pandemic.

While Argentina remains interested in joining, it is also renegotiating payment on its $44 billion debt with the IMF, meaning it is involved in a delicate balancing act.

CGTN’s Joel Richards reports.

Agriculture companies work to stem tide of deforestation in the Amazon

In 2019 China’s biggest food company announced it would support a soy moratorium in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Under such a plan – already successfully applied in the Brazilian Amazon – soy traders commit to refusing products grown in recently deforested areas.

CGTN’s Paulo Cabral reports.

How China built its infrastructure and then its economic investment

As China marks the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, CGTN looks at the long road the country took in redeveloping its infrastructure and how through that it was able to be a crucial player in the global economy.

Harvard Professor in China Studies William Kirby gives his insight and what development will mean for the country’s future.

China helps bring clean energy to Mexico

With renewable energy becoming an essential tool worldwide in the fight against climate change, China is becoming a global leader, particularly in Latin America. CGTN’s Alasdair Baverstock reports.