China 'lacks cultural masterminds'

Yan Lili's company Transn has provided services for the Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo, and did the subtitles for various TV shows and films, including super popular Chinese food-and-culture documentary "A Bite of China," which was watched by some 80 million audiences in 137 countries. [File Photo]

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One executive from a translation innovation company told China.org.cn in an exclusive interview that there are currently very few cultural masterminds in terms of promoting Chinese essence overseas.

Yan Lili, Deputy General Manager of CRI-TRANSN, a new-type Internet & IT-based language service supplier as well as a language service provider, said Chinese cultural promoters should do their homework before heading out to the world.

"I'm not a cultural expert, but from the information I personally analyzed and known, the difficulties, on the macroscopic side, stem from a lack of general planning," she said, "Many departments and institutions are doing things in their own way, instead of joining forces."

She continued, "For the execution part, we lack the masterminds for cultural communication and promotion, and those experts with international vision. If we want our culture to be truly accepted by the world, we have to study and research first, and present exactly what people from other cultures would love to see. Solemn and blunt promotion is easily dismissed."

"The best cultural promotion would be to silently step into their hearts. I think that if we could collaborate with international cultural masters, we will receive more positive results," she added.