China Daily exchange journalist Song Jingli arrived in New Zealand this week to undertake a semester studying journalism through the School of Communication Studies at AUT University.
Song says when she heard about the chance to study journalism overseas she knew it was an important opportunity, which she wanted to be part of.
“It is an opportunity and not everyone understands how important it will be,” she says.
Song is based in Beijing and works in the business department at the China Daily website and she also hosts a programme named Innovative China.
Even though Song has been working at the China Daily for three years, she has not formally had any journalism training and she says she is looking forward to "brushing up" by learning more.
“After three years of working, I need this opportunity to enhance my skills and to broaden my horizons.”
Han Xu, from human resources at the China Daily, says all staff members can apply for the AUT/China Daily Exchange programme. Applicants sit a test and whoever scores the highest is chosen.
Highest score
Song has a master’s degree in communication from Peking University, one of China’s top universities. She scored the highest in the test and so won the opportunity.
When Song was an undergraduate student studying English language and culture, she also taught herself journalism and interned for the newspaper Dalian Daily.
She is keen to do some research while she is in New Zealand, to find out what people really want to know about China.
“I want to know what the people and students in New Zealand really want to know about China, we provide information at the China Daily about China but what we really want to know is if the information we provide is what they want,” she says.
This is the first time that Song has travelled to a foreign country. She has visited Taiwan and Hong Kong before, but those places are also part of China.
Look out for Song Jingli around the AUT campus.
Asia-Pacific Journalism studies at PMC
Song Jingli's page at PMC Online
China Daily
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Centre
