Video captures the zeitgeist

An animated rap video promoting the opening of the freight train route between China and Europe, which is viewed as a milestone in the Belt and Road Initiative, recently went viral on the internet and social media ahead of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that was held in Beijing on Sunday and Monday.

The popularity of the video shows people are keen to know more about the purposes and content of the China-proposed initiative.

In the we-media era, people have numerous ways to acquire information and they are often indifferent to the mountains of real-time news available. So public relations skills are needed to spark public interest and help people keep their attention on a specific news event. In this sense, the animation has been a huge success in publicizing the Belt and Road Initiative.

Since it was proposed almost four years ago, the Belt and Road Initiative has scored a bumper harvest both at home and abroad and also been widely recognized as a beneficial public good around the world. So the video has catered to people’s desire to learn more about the China-advocated initiative, popularizing basic knowledge about the initiative ahead of the convocation of the forum, an event that is of great news value.

The video’s success also comes from its innovative dissemination manner. The Belt and Road Initiative has long been a high-end and serious political news that is less related to people’s daily lives, but the animated content and the rap song used in the video helped make it more down-to-earth and so brought it closer to lives of ordinary people.

The video’s success also demonstrates that a serious political event can also attract people’s interest if an appropriate publicity method is adopted.