the Press Conference on the Provincial Foreign-related Civility and Etiquette

March 27, 2007

Chairman’s Speech at the Press Conference on the Provincial Mass Publicity and Educational Activities of Foreign-related Civility and Etiquette

Kong Fanke,Director of the Foreign Publicity Office of the Provincial Party Committee,of the Publicity Section of the Provincial News Office,and of the News Release Coordinating Team Office of the Provincial Government
Ladies and gentlemen, and friends from the media,
Kong Fanke:In the beginning of this year, fourteen departments, including the Publicity Department of
the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Civility Office and the Foreign Publicity Office of the Provincial Party Committee, jointly issued a document deciding to launch  large-scale mass publicity and educational activities of foreign-related civility and etiquette in the province. The starting ceremony of the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign-related civility and etiquette will be held solemnly in the City of Qufu, Jining, on March 29.
Kong Fanke:Today, we are greatly honored by the presence of Mr Huang Zecun, Director of the Foreign Publicity Office of the Provincial Party Committee and of the Press Office of the Provincial Government, and Mr Liu Sen, Deputy Secretary of the Qufu Party Committee and Mayer, who will give us a briefing on the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign- related civility and etiquette and the starting ceremony.
Kong Fanke:Present at the conference are journalists from Shandong branches of the central media, and of Hong Kong media, from the provincial media, from the major media in Jinan, Jining and Qufu.

Kong Fanke:First, we invite Mr Huang Zecun, Director of the Foreign Publicity Office of the Provincial Party Committee and of the Press Office of the Provincial Government to give us a briefing on the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign- related civility and etiquette.

Huang Zecun,Director of the Foreign Publicity Office of the Provincial Party Committee
and of the Press Office of the Provincial Government

Huang Zecun:Friends from the media,
Good afternoon!
Huang Zecun:To implement the requirements for foreign publicity and foreign affairs made by the Central Party Committee and the Provincial Party Committee, improve the foreign-related civility quality of the masses of party members, officials and citizens, mold a good image of Chinese citizens and create a favorable external environment for the rapid development of the economy and society, 14 departments and unites including the Publicity Department and the Foreign Publicity Office of the Provincial Party Committee and the Huang Zecun:Provincial Civility Office have decided to organize and start one year’s activities of mass publicity and education of civility and etiquette in the whole province from January this year. In order to promote the development of these activities, it is decided that starting ceremony of the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign-related civility and etiquette will be held in Qufu at 10:30 on March 29 (Thursday). The related provincial leaders, the officials concerned from some provincial departments, from Jining and Qufu, and about 4,000 representatives from all fields of society will be present at the ceremony.
Huang Zecun:Now, I will give a briefing on the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign-related civility and etiquette our province from three aspects.
Huang Zecun:1. The significance of launching the activities of publicity and education of the foreign-related civility and etiquette
      Foreign-related civility and etiquette is an important part of the foreign publicity and foreign affairs. As the important content of the harmonious society, peaceful development and the construction of a harmonious world, foreign-related civility and etiquette plays an important role in promoting international trade, cultural and personnel exchange and cooperation and enhancing the development of the economy and society. In particular, with the approaching of the Beijing Olympic Games, the task of seizing the opportunity and improving the image of our nation is becoming more and more arduous and our citizens are required to have better qualities of foreign-related civility and etiquette. It is urgent to cultivate a self-respected and confident, rational and peaceful, energetic and enterprising national mentality and maintain the national dignity and image. Therefore, we should take effective measures to improve citizens’ qualities of foreign-related civility and etiquette.
Huang Zecun:As a large coastal province of in term of economy, population and culture, Shandong Province is an important birthplace of Chinese traditional culture and is well known as “the Hometown of Confucius and Mencius ” and “the land of civility and etiquette”. Besides, Qingdao is the partner city of the Beijing Olympic Games; therefore, at present and in the future, it is an urgent task for foreign-related publicity and foreign affairs to raise the masses of citizens’ quality of foreign-related civility and etiquette and improve the ability of our officials and people for foreign communication.
Huang Zecun:The new situation and task require us to realize the great significance of the activities of the publicity and education of foreign-related civility and etiquette from the strategic viewpoint of carrying out the spirit of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 6th plenary session of the 16th Congress of CPC, implementing the scientific development view and constructing a harmonious communist society.
Huang Zecun:2. Major content of foreign-related publicity and education of civility and etiquette
 Huang Zecun:To attract the participation of the masses of officials and people, full use should be made of a variety of educational resources, by means of newspapers, broadcast, TV, and the Internet, in the lively forms of informal discussion, speech competition, symposium, picture exhibition and public propaganda. To promote the activities, the provincial government will pay attention to six points:
(1) To encourage the masses to read a book concerning civility and etiquette. Reading this kind of excellent books is an important access to the knowledge of civility and etiquette.
(2) To organize a symposium on the topic of civility and etiquette. Symposium is an effective means to carry out the educational activities and intensively publicize the knowledge of civility and etiquette.
(3) To hold a contest of civility and etiquette knowledge. Knowledge competition is an important carrier to enlarge the coverage of publicity and education and attract the participation of officials and people. The provincial government will organize the contest by means of Dazhong Daily and the provincial TV station, and all cities and units will organize the masses of officials, people and student youth to take part in it.
(4) To set up a forum on the foreign-related civility and etiquette on the Internet. The forum on the Internet is an important means of encouraging people’s participation and self-education.
(5) To organize a social practical activity of foreign-related civility and etiquette. Social practical activity is a living class to extend the educational content and deepen the effect of publicity.
(6) To give publicity to a batch of advanced units and individuals devoted to the publicity and education of foreign-related civility and etiquette. Setting up good examples is an important way to bring into play the function of the examples and promote the educational activities.
Huang Zecun:3. The organization of implementation of the activities of foreign-related civility and etiquette
The activities of publicity and education of foreign-related civility and etiquette are of great important, rich in content, pressed for time and arduous. We will organize them intensely, take effective measures and pay much attention to their implementation.
Huang Zecun:(1)  To strengthen the leadership and clarify the responsibilities. We require that each city, department and unit further realize the importance and urgency of the activities and strengthen our leadership in this task. The activities should become part of the work plans of all departments and units and listed on the agenda, one official should be appointed to take charge of this task, and responsibilities of the functional departments should be clarified. Personnel, measures and supervision should be in place to assure the orderly development of the activities.
Huang Zecun:(2) To take charge of the activities together and cooperate with each other. In according with the requirements of establishing and perfecting the overall structure of foreign-related publicity, the publicity departments of the Party Committees at all levels shall strengthen their leadership in the activities of publicity and education, with foreign publicity departments responsible for the organization and coordination of the activities.

Huang Zecun:(3) To enhance publicity and create an atmosphere. We will require newspapers, broadcasting stations, TV stations and network media to publicize the significance of the activities in a deep-going way through special columns, subjects and forums, to popularize the knowledge of foreign-related civility and etiquette, to report the latest developments and the effects of the activities, to give much publicity to the advanced models in the activities, and to create a profound atmosphere of social public opinions.
We hope that, through one year’s efforts, due to the actions of the whole society and the participation of the masses, our education of foreign-related civility and etiquette will reach a new level.

Huang Zecun:Thank you!

Kong fanke:Next, we invite Mr Liu Sen, Deputy Secretary of the Qufu Party Committee and Mayer, to give us a briefing on the starting ceremony of the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign- related civility and etiquette.

Liu Sen,Ladies and gentlemen, and friends from the media,
Liu Sen:Qufu is the hometown of Confucius, the great thinker, educator and statesman in ancient China, and the birthplace of traditional Chinese culture. It is one of the first lot of 24 historically and culturally famous cities of the country and a renowned tourist destination, with its long history and rich culture. There are more than 300 cultural relics and historic sites within its boundaries, and 113 of which are major sites under state protection, with Confucius Temple, the Kong Mansion and the Kong Forest included in UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage list. The Confucius Complex has become one of the first lot of the national 5A-class scenic spots.
Liu Sen: Stress on civility and etiquette is the important component of the six Confucian arts. The extensive and profound Confucian culture of civility and etiquette created numerous brilliant chapters in the five thousand years of Chinese civilization. Qufu has long been known both at home and abroad as “the land of civility and etiquette”. For many years, centering on the requirements “everyone be courteous and every place be clean” and “I represent Qufu before Chinese guests and China before foreign guests”, our city designed one theme every year for building spiritual civilization, and broadly carried out a series of activities of building civility and etiquette and spiritual civilization, such as “advocating morality, obeying the law, and beauty in Qufu”, “civilization in Qufu and etiquette in the Saint’s hometown ” and “making efforts to build a harmonious Qufu”. These activities are aimed to carry forward our excellent national culture, build a civilized and harmonious Qufu, raise the city’s image, and polish the window to opening up to the outside. We are at the forefront in carrying out the civility and etiquette activities in our province and even in our country.
Liu Sen:The starting ceremony of the provincial mass publicity and educational activities in foreign-related civility and etiquette will be held solemnly in Qufu and therefore we feel our task is glorious and our responsibility grave. The Party Committee and the Municipal Government of Qufu attach great importance to the event.
Liu Sen:The starting ceremony of the provincial mass publicity and educational activities in foreign-related civility and etiquette will be held in Qufu, which will be a great encouragement and spur for Qufu. Under the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, we will take this opportunity to take as a matter of prim importance the publicity and education in foreign-related civility and etiquette in Qufu’s building of spiritual civilization at present and in a future period. We will carry out the activity of “publicity and education year of civility and etiquette” vigorously and in a down-to-earth manner in the whole city. We will further carry out The Program for the Implementation of Citizens’ Moral Building in combination with such activities as “the year of improving the working style” and “making efforts to build a harmonious Qufu”. We will develop the content of civility and etiquette education, mobilize people from all walks of life to take part in the activities, with emphasis on the Party and government organs, historic relics and tourist units, and foreign service trades. We will strengthen the popularization of   civility and etiquette education, raise the qualities of our citizens, make the knowledge of civility and etiquette strike root in the hearts of the people and make the behavior and speech of the citizens in general in keeping with the civility and etiquette norms.

Liu Sen:Thank you.

Kong fanke:Recently, six departments, including the Publicity Department of the Central Party Committee, the Central Civility Office, issued a special document about starting the activities of “meeting the Olympic Games, paying attention to civility and upholding a new mood”, which is of importance to our mass publicity and educational activities of foreign- related civility and etiquette. All media are hoped to bring into full play their enthusiasm, initiative and creativity and adopt various and effective forms to give wide publicity to the importance of launching the mass publicity and educational activities of foreign-related civility and etiquette, report on the developments and achievements of the publicity and educational activities without delay, and give wide publicity to the advanced models emerging from the activities. The major media, especially Dazhong Daily, Shandong Radio and Shandong Television, should make detailed and thorough plans for the publicity and coverage of the developments, major methods and new experience of the publicity and educational activities of foreign- related civility and etiquette in a broad and deep-going way. Special coverage should be given to the starting ceremony of the mass publicity and educational activities of  foreign-related civility and etiquette held in Qufu on March 29.

Kong fanke:That is the end of today''s conference. Thank you.