On the 27^th of February, the opening ceremony for the 2017 ‘development studies and media exchange in China’ lecture series was held at RUC sponsored by the China Public Diplomacy Association and hosted by the RUC School of Journalism. In attendance at the opening ceremony were RUC vice President YI Zhihong, along with Director of the Foreign Ministry Media Department LIU Yutong, Director of the Foreign Ministry Sino-African Journalism Exchange Centre CHEN Zhe, and many others, including 48 journalists from over 41 different countries. Many of the 48 journalists were from the Foreign Ministry’s Sino-African Journalism Exchange Centre, including many from Africa’s mainstream media outlets in countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, and Cameroon. Other countries represented were Afghanistan, Myanmar, Thailand, and Pakistan. Vice President YI began her address by welcoming all the guests, and also expressed thanks to the China Public Diplomacy Association for their hard work organising the event. She noted that this undertaking was indeed very international and multicultural, and that thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, their Sino-African Journalism Exchange Centre, and the China Public Diplomacy Association, that these lucky participants would learn much about the current state of affairs in China, including with regards politics, economy, society, culture, and of course media, which will no doubt foster continued friendly relations between their home countries and China. She emphasised to the participants how important RUC sees its relationship with their home countries, and that RUC currently hosts over 200 of their compatriots. She concluded by expressing hope that their time at RUC would be an unforgettable and fruitful learning experience, and wished them every success in completing their course this year. Following, Director LIU gave a brief rundown on the present state of Chinese and world affairs, and welcomed the journalists to come to China at this very tumultuous time in world affairs. He suggested that in the coming 10 months the journalists spend time trying to understanding China’s political system, economy, and cultural traditions, to make many Chinese friends, and to spend time travelling all over China to see how different it is from East to West. As the saying goes, ‘being widely travelled is as important as being widely read,’ and hopefully in this way they may be able to come to a fuller understanding of China. He concluded by expressing thanks to his alma mater RUC, and wished the participants success in their studies. The Sino-African Journalism Exchange Centre project was established in 2014, and was first hosted at RUC School of Journalism in 2015 (during its second year), 2017 is the third year that it has been held. This year there are 48 participants, who are journalists from Africa, South Asia, and South East Asia. Starting in February this year they will take 22 lectures over four months, given by senior media personalities and esteemed professors from RUC, Peking University, and Tsinghua University among others, in areas such as Chinese politics, economy, society, culture, and journalism and media. This course will also see them interviewing officials, business, media, and schools from all over China, so as to help them better understand the situation all over China.