Merry Christmas

Weser River, Verden District (West)

Merry Christmas, run, run, Rudolph, and let it snow.

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) Christmas Program on Shortwave

Following an established annual routine, Northern German Radio (NDR) broadcasts a four-hours Christmas program on shortwave – “Gruß an Bord” (greeting all ships) – on December 24, from 19:00 to 23:00 UTC.

_______________________________________
Time	Freq.	Transmit-	Target
(UTC)	(kHz)	ter site	area
___________________________________
19:00 –	6,080	Nauen,	Atlantic N
21:00		Germany
___________________________________
19:00 –	11,650	Issoudun,	Atlantic S
21:00
___________________________________
19:00 –	9,800	Issoudun,	Atlantic,
21:00		France	Indian O.,
			Sth Africa
___________________________________
19:00 –	9,740	Nauen,	Indian
21:00		Germany	Ocean W
___________________________________
19:00 –	9,570	Moos-	Indian
21:00		brunn,	Ocean E
		Austria
___________________________________
19:00 –	6,030	Armenia	Europe
21:00
___________________________________
21:00 –	6,145	Nauen	Atlantic N
21:00
___________________________________
21:00 –	9,830	Issoudun	Atlantic S
21:00
___________________________________
21:00 –	9,590	Issoudun	Atlantic,
23:00			Indian O.,
			Sth Africa
___________________________________
21:00 –	9,720	Nauen	Indian
23:00			Ocean W
___________________________________
21:00 –	9,650	Moos-	Indian
23:00		brunn	Ocean E
___________________________________
21:00 –	6,155	Armenia	Europe
23:00
___________________________________

Sources

Gruss an Bord, NDR, Nov 28, 2018
Background, RBB, Nov 17, 2018
History, Dec 25, 2017

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Happy New Year!

Taipei 101 light and fireworks show, published by the Liberty Times online.

Shortwave Logs, December 2017: Germany’s annual Public-Radio High-Frequency Broadcast

“Gruß an Bord” is one of the oldest programs¹⁾ carried on German public radio, and the only one among these that is still broadcast on shortwave. Once a year, that is. The program starts at 19:00 UTC and runs through 23:00 UTC, i. e. Midnight central European time (see table there).

Christmas Eve on Sunday was that one night a year when a public German-language radio broadcaster returns to shortwave: “Gruss an Bord” is a program where sailors’ relatives and friends send greetings to their loved ones on board, wherever on the seven seas they may be²⁾.

From Norddeich Radio to Deutsche Welle

“Gruß an Bord” first went on air in 1953. Back then, according to Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR, northern German radio), coastal radio station Norddeich Radio beamed the wistful messages across the seas.

It hasn’t been aired every year since, according to an NDR press release of 2009, which provides no notes about at which times there had been interruptions.

Some time after its inception, Germany’s public foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle must have taken the task of broadcasting “Gruss an Bord” internationally, while NDR has always been in charge of the content.

Haus der Schiffahrt (House of Shipping Companies), Leer (archive)

Norddeich Radio has been defunct since the 1990s, and Deutsche Welle terminated their German-language broadcasts on shortwave in 2011. “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (Germany does itself in), an angry seafarer reportedly wrote in a protest letter.

From Deutsche Welle to Media Broadcast

It appears that the program was limited to VHF/FM and medium wave in December 2011, but in 2012, NDR bought airtime from Media Broadcast, a company that operates the Nauen transmitter station ( a site formerly used by Deutsche Welle). They also coordinate with other broadcasting sites in Europe.

NDR is a public broadcaster operating in the federal states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and Lower Saxony. (As Bremen was part of the American occupation zone in post-war Germany, the city state runs a broadcasting station of its own, Radio Bremen.)

The first hour – and some of the second – of this year’s broadcast were recordings made earlier in December, at Hamburg’s Duckdalben international seamen’s club (or Seemannsmission), a place operated by Germany’s evangelical church. Some time during the second hour of this year’s program, recordings from Leer, a town in Eastern Friesland, Germany’s far northwest, were broadcast. Leer is only a small town, with some 30 to 35 thousand population, but it is a place with a lot of history, and a navigation school. Probably not least thanks to the latter, Leer is considered the place with the second-largest number of shipping companies in Germany, after Hamburg.

In Leer’s “Kulturspeicher”, the NDR’s Lower Saxony broadcasting house also made some recordings, on December 10, to televise a few minutes of them within the state on December 23, in a 3’19” report. (The video should remain online for a few weeks.)

The show felt a bit as if it was from a different era, trade magazine website Radioszene noted four years ago. That’s hard to deny, when you look at the cozy arrangements captured by the NDR cameras.

But then, even in 1979, Werner Bader, head of Deutsche Welle’s German programs at the time, observed that

A minority keeps criticizing, sometimes wittingly, that the two programs [“Gruß an Bord” and “Grüße aus dem Heimathafen”, another sailors’ program] were unctuous. But a majority advocates to carry them forward.
(Eine Minderheit kritisiert immer wieder, in beiden Sendungen gebe es Rührseligkeiten, und sie tut es manchmal auch geistreich witzig. Aber die Mehrheit plädiert für das Wunschkonzert und die “Grüße aus dem Heimathafen”.)

The Audience: families, the wider public …

“Gruß an Bord” is aired by a public broadcaster, and at the same time, it is about family – two rather different target audiences. An NDR editor interviewed in the December 23 report from Leer, tries to match the two:

If this is about feelings, the broadcast is still needed. If someone says that most of the German ships have been equipped with internet for a year now, and that families can skype or text each other, or use Whatsapp – but then, people may sit alone in their bunk, on Christmas Eve, before and after their meals, that’s not the same as if you join everyone else in the mess deck, listening to this broadcast together.
Wenn es um Gefühle geht, dann braucht man die Sendung noch. Wenn jetzt jemand sagt, die deutschen Schiffe sind seit einem Jahr weitgehend mit Internet ausgerüstet, und dann können die Familien miteinander skypen und sich eine SMS schicken oder per Whatsapp kommunizieren, aber da sitzen vielleicht die Leute allein in ihrer Koje am Heiligen Abend, vorm Essen, nach dem Essen, bekommen ihre Whatsapps, das ist ja nicht so, als wenn  man gemeinsam in der Messe sitzt und dann vielleicht gemeinsam diese Sendung hört.

Or as put by an (apparent) senior sailor in a television report from the Hamburg event, the program is

special, because you get the impression that – even if you can be reached by email, smartphone etc. -, the public is aware of you.
Das Besondere an der Sendung ist, dass man eben tatsächlich den Eindruck hat, dass man – auch wenn man über Email, Handy erreichbar ist, trotzdem auch im Bewusstsein der Öffentlichkeit ist.

… and the friends of the high frequencies

I recorded all of the program, and listened to some of it. It remains a reverend institution, and worth listening to. But I think I liked the final twenty-five minutes best. There, letters and emails were read out from an ordinary broadcasting studio – well-structured and carefully thought out messages, rather than improvised talk into microphones.

I have no idea how many people listen to the programs, and where. But when listening to the mails and letters being read out, you realize that a substantial share (if not the majority) of those who listen to the shortwave transmissions must be shortwave aficionados, rather than seafarers:

Bernd Ottenau from Ottenau sends greetings to all members, honorary members and friends of the Radio Taiwan International listeners’ club Ottenau, as well as the international shortwave programs’ German-language editorial offices.
(Bernd Ottenau aus Ottenau grüßt herzlich alle Mitglieder, Ehrenmitglieder und Freunde des Radio Taiwan International Hörerclubs Ottenau, sowie die deutschsprachigen Redaktionen der internationalen Kurzwellenprogramme, und wünscht gesegnete Weihnachten sowie ein gutes neues Jahr 2018.)

A thing Germany has in common with countries like China, India, or Japan are its pasttime associations, and its shortwave listeners’ associations not least. They, too, may be an explanation as to why a radio institution like “Gruß an Bord”, allegedly from a different era, remains on air – at least once a year.

The 6155 kHz relay transmission from Armenia – offering the best signal among all the sites rebroadcasting “Gruß an Bord” – goes off air a few seconds after 23:00 UTC. CPBS Beijing emerges on the same frequency, informing me that it’s the eighth day of the lunar calendar’s  eleventh month today.

____________

Notes

¹⁾ The “Hafenkonzert” is even older – see Related underneath – “Soundscrapes of the Urban Past”
²⁾ Then again, maybe not exactly on all the seven seas. The Pacific Ocean isn’t among the target areas stated by NDR.

____________

Related

Soundscrapes of the Urban Past, 2013

____________

Norddeutscher Rundfunk Christmas Program on Shortwave

Just as in previous years, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) broadcasts a program for ship’s crews at sea and their relatives and friends at home on shortwave, from 19:00 to 23:00 UTC (20:00 to 24:00 central European time).

A rotatable directional antenna at Moosbrunn transmitter site, Austria. Wikimedia Commons, click picture for source description)

From 19:00 to 21:00 UTC

6125 kHz, target area northern Atlantic, transmitter in Nauen
9685 kHz, target area Indian Ocean (west), transmitter in Nauen
9925 kHz, target area Atlantic/South Africa/Indian Ocean, transmitter Issoudun
11650 kHz, target area Atlantic (south), transmitter Issoudun
11800 kHz, target area Indian Ocean (east), transmitter Moosbrunn

From 21:05 to 23:00 UTC

6040 kHz, target area northern Atlantic, transmitter in Nauen
9515 kHz, target area Indian Ocean (west), transmitter in Nauen
9765 kHz, target area Indian Ocean (east), transmitter Moosbrunn
9880 kHz, target area Atlantic (south), transmitter Moosbrunn
9925 kHz, target area Atlantic/South Africa/Indian Ocean, transmitter Issoudun

For listeners in Germany or not too far from there, medium wave may also be an option:
702 kHz (Flensburg), 792 kHz (Lingen), 828 kHz (Hanover), and 972 kHz (Hamburg).

Probably the last chance to listen to the program on medium wave, as according to plans, January 13, 2015, will mark the end of medium wave broadcasts by NDR.

Shortwave Log, Northern Germany, February 2014: Bremen loses its Voice

–

1. Radio Bremen – some history

Radio Bremen‘s medium wave transmitter near Oberneuland, northeast of Bremen, has been torn down. The about six hectares of the former transmission site will be recultivated, but won’t be turned into building ground, Bremen’s daily Weser Kurier wrote on January 30. The site is surrounded by a natural preserve area. A citizens association reportedly expressed “great joy” about the removal of the 45-meters tall radio tower and the surrounding equipment as it had been a disfigurement of the landscape (“eine Verschandelung der Landschaft”).

Medium wave transmitter, Oberneuland, summer 2010

The Oberneuland site was built in 1998/1999. It replaced a previous transmitter site in Horn-Lehe, also located northeast of Bremen, but somewhat closer to the city than Oberneuland.

The Oberneuland transmitter was switched off in March 2010, which led to some listener protests just less than  200, according to Radio Bremen four years ago.

“The Caller”, Radio Bremen / studio Bremen, HInter der Mauer. Sculpture by Gerhard Marcks. Inscription: “The Caller empathises with the Stentor character who, with a magnanimous and brazen voice, shouted as loud as fifty men.” Created in 1967, commissioned by Radio Bremen.
At the time, Radio Bremen could be heard on VHF/FM, on medium wave, and on shortwave.

The Oberneuland site had been unable to provide supraregional reception of the medium-wave programs in a satisfactory quality, Radio Bremen wrote in a soothing press release of February 9, 2014. Also, the rather small number of less than 200 responses to the transmitter’s switch-off on March 10, 2010 had suggested that most people who tuned in to medium wave were actually rather radio hobbyists than real listeners. The Weser Kurier on January 30 quoted a Radio Bremen speaker as saying that hopes for medium wave as a carrier for digital radio had remined unfulfilled.

Certainly, Oberneuland’s medium wave was no match for its predecessor in Horn-Lehe. Almost fifteen years prior to this small one-tower site in Oberneuland, on January 31, 1999, the VHF/FM radio tower (211 meters high) and the medium-wave radio tower (110 meters high, probably plus a smaller reserve tower) in Horn-Lehe had been demolished. Hundreds of people had their savage amusement that day, looking on from a pedestrian bridge across the highway Autobahn A27.

Until seventeen years ago, Radio Bremen even ran a shortwave transmitter, also on the site in Horn-Lehe, in cooperation with Sender Freies Berlin (SFB, “Free Berlin”). The shortwave broadcasts from Horn-Lehe came from a horizontal rhombic antenna, carried by four radio towers of 25 meters height each. The shortwave broadcasts started in 1961, on 6195 kHz,  and ended on October 1, 1996, on 6190 kHz. The shortwave transmitter was then sold to south-western Germany, to Madascar from there, and may now still be in operation from east of Africa, German shortwave listeners magazine Radio-Kurier wrote in 2012.

–

2. Radio Riyadh

BSKSA Saudi Arabia, also known as Radio Riyadh or, in French, as Radio Saoudienne Internationale, has dropped English as a broadcasting language on shortwave, along with a number of French transmissions, reports the British DX Club, in its February 2014 Shortwave Guide for the Middle East. One of the station’s French broadcasts on shortwave continues, however, daily from 14:00 to 15:55 hours UTC on 17660 kHz.

Saudi Arabia shortwave radio, February 4 2014, in French. Click symbol for soundfile.
May be removed ten days after posting.

The target area for the only remaining shortwave broadcast in French are Senegal, Mali, and Cameroun, according to the station’s announcement. While this broadcast still included news during the summer months of last year, at 15:30 UTC, this program item, too, seems to have been dropped now. The focus is on religion, and sometimes on culture, in programs like “the Saudi woman” (La Femme Saoudienne).

According to the British DX Club’s Shortwave Guide for the Middle East, shortwave broadcasts in Arabic to North Africa, to Europe and the Mediterranean, the Middle East, to a number of Asian regions are continued. The transmissions also include Swahili, Indonesian, Urdu, Bengali, Persian, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, and Turkish. For details and frequencies, please go there.

–

============

–

3. Recent Logs

If you want to try reception, try now.  Some or many of the frequencies may change on March 29/30, with the usual, twice-a-year, adaptation to winter/summer propagation conditions.

International Telecommunication Union letter codes used in the table underneath:

AFS – South Africa; ARG – Argentina; ARS – Saudi Arabia; BOT – Botswana; CAN – Canada; CHN – China; CUB – Cuba; D – Germany; DJI – Djibouti; EGY – Egypt; G – Great Britain; IND – India; IRL – Ireland; KRE – North Korea; PHL – Philippines;  RRW – Rwanda; SWZ – Swaziland; TIB – Tibet, TUR – Turkey; USA – USA.

Languages (“L.”):

? – unknown; A – Arabic; C – Chinese; E – English; F – French; G – German; J – Japanese; R – Russian; S – Spanish; T – Tagalog.

kHz	Station	Ctry	L.	Day	GMT	S	I	O
4905	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 2	16:06	3	4	3
9615	CRI Beijing	CHN	G	Feb 2	18:00	3	4	3
9525	Radio Pilipinas	PHL	T/ E	Feb 3	17:30	4	4	4
11890	Radio Pilipinas	PHL	T/ E	Feb 3	17:30	2	3	2
15190	Radio Pilipinas	PHL	T/ E	Feb 3	17:30	1	3	1
7850	CHU Ottawa	CAN	E/ F	Feb 4	04:42	3	4	3
17660	BSKSA Riyadh	ARS	F	Feb 4	14:01	4	4	4
4905	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 4	16:16	3	4	3
11710	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 6	02:00	2	4	2
3995	HCJB Weener- moor	D	R	Feb 6	04:00	4	5	4
7550	AIR Delhi	IND	E	Feb 8	17:55	4	5	4
3995	HCJB Weener- moor	D	G	Feb 8	19:14	4	5	4
4905	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 9	16:00	4	4	4
4920	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 9	16:00	3	4	3
4905	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 10	16:00	4	4	3
15235	Channel Africa	AFS	E	Feb 10	17:02	4	5	4
7550	AIR1) Delhi	IND	E	Feb 10	18:15	5	5	5
11710	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 13	02:01	2	4	2
11710	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 13	02:15	3	4	3
9410	R. Cairo	EGY	G	Feb 15	19:00	4	5	12)
5060	PBS Xinjiang	CHN	C	Feb 16	02:49	2	3	2
4930	VoA Botswana	BOT	E	Feb 16	03:00	4	5	3
4780	Radio Djibouti	DJI	A	Feb 16	03:30	3	4	3
7425	Deutsche Welle Kigali	RRW	E	Feb 16	04:00	3	5	3
5040	Radio Habana Cuba	CUB	E	Feb 16	06:00	4	5	4
4905	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 16	16:00	3	2	23)
3985	R. Prague	D	G	Feb 16	16:30	4	5	4
3985	R. Poland	D	G	Feb 16	17:00	4	4	4
9720	R. Cairo	EGY	?	Feb 17	01:57	4	5	1
9720	R. Cairo	EGY	?	Feb 17	02:00	4	5	1
6155	Channel Africa	AFS	E	Feb 17	03:00	3	3	3
11710	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 21	02:40	4	5	4
15235	Channel Africa	AFS	E	Feb 21	17:00	4	5	4
7550	AIR Delhi	IND	E	Feb 21	17:40	5	5	5
7550	AIR1) Delhi	IND	E	Feb 21	18:30	4	5	4
11710	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	J	Feb 22	01:00	4	5	4
11710	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 22	02:00	4	5	4
3215	WWCR	USA	E	Feb 22	03:30	3	4	3
3240	TWR Swazi- land	SWZ	?	Feb 22	03:34	3	4	3
3413 (USB)	Shannon Volmet	IRL	E	Feb 22	03:42	4	4	4
2872 (USB)	Shan- wick	G/ IRL	E	Feb 22	03:53	4	4	4
3995	HCJB Weener- moor	D	R	Feb 22	04:10	4	4	3
4765	Radio Progreso	CUB	S	Feb 22	04:16	3	4	3
4905	PBS Tibet	TIB	E	Feb 22	16:03	3	4	3
4500	PBS Xinjiang	CHN	?	Feb 23	17:30	4	4	4
17660	BSKSA Riyadh	ARS	F	Feb 24	14:00	4	5	4
15235	Channel Africa	AFS	E	Feb 24	17:00	5	5	4
17540	Radio Impala	?4)	E	Feb 24	17:30	5	5	4
3950	PBS Xinjiang	CHN	C	Feb 24	23:10	4	5	4
3950	PBS Xinjiang	CHN	C	Feb 25	00:00	4	5	4
15205	BSKSA Riyadh	ARS	A	Feb 25	16:42	5	5	5
6170	Stimme Koreas	KRE	G	Feb 25	19:00	4	5	4
15190	Radio Pilipinas	PHL	T/ E	Feb 26	19:04	4	4	3
15345	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	G	Feb 26	21:00	3	2	2
11710 5)	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 27	02:00	4	3	3
11710 5)	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	E	Feb 27	02:40	4	4	4
4775	TWR Swazi- land	SWZ	?	Feb 28	03:42	3	4	3

____________

Footnotes

¹⁾ received with a Silver XF 900 and its built-in telescopic antenna (SIO 555). All India Radio had occasional blackouts early in February (usually for around or less than a minute), but the signal rarely leaves anything to be desired otherwise. All other broadcasts received with a Sony ICF 2001D shortwave receiver and a simple wire antenna (12 meters length) or a dipole (east-west) respectively.
²⁾ great signal, but modulation remains the usual disaster, hence O=1.
³⁾ strong interference from upper-side band.
¹⁾ either from Uganda (which seems to appear unlikely when you looking at their program which is critical of the Ugandan government, but but Uganda is their location according to their website), or from Madagascar.
⁵⁾ Possibly around 11710.7 kHz. However, it may also have been tries to escape interfering signals that made RAE appear to be more than 0.5 kHz above nominal frequency.

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Related

» Logs January 2014
» Logs December 2013
» Führungskrise, Frankfurter Rundschau, Dec 5, 2008
» Teilprivatisierung und Tarife, verdi, June 30, 2006

Main Tag: » shortwave radio

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And now for the not-so-pleasant Reform Tasks: the Fat Years are Over, Xi Jinping tells Russian TV

The following is a translation of a Xinhua article, as carried by several Chinese websites. Links within blockquote added during translation into English. the article quotes excerpts from an interview conducted between Xi Jinping and Russian television.

The closing remarks by Xi about the end of the pleasant reforms may be, but don’t have to be an indication that times could get tougher for Chinese citizens in economic terms. It may just as well suggest that the task of governing China is becoming more difficult for the leaders, or simply to understate China’s prospects in front of a Russian audience. This kind of “deep sigh” seems to run through the China-related paragraphs of the interview. Either way, the interview has now been published in Chinese online media, too.

From February 6 to 8, Chinese state chairman Xi Jinping went to the southern Russian coastal city of Sochi to attend the opening ceremony of the twenty-second Olympic Games. While in Russia, Xi Jinping also held a bilateral meeting with Russian president Putin. He also gave an interview to Russian television, answering anchor Buliliaofu’s [Chinese phonetics of a Russian name] questions about the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, Sino-Russian relations, the prospects of China’s comprehensive and deepened reform and development, and other questions.

2月6日至8日，中国 国家主席习近平赴俄罗斯南部海滨城市索契出席第二十二届冬季奥林匹克运动会开幕式。在俄期间，习近平还与俄总统普京举行了双边会晤。习近平还接受了俄罗斯 电视台的专访，就索契冬奥会、中俄关系、中国全面深化改革和发展前景等问题回答了主持人布里廖夫提问。

Q: What’s your impression of Sochi?
您对索契的印象如何？

A: This is my first visit to Sochi, but I have heard about Sochi before. When I was young, I read the novel “How the Steel was Tempered”, which Ostrovsky completed right here in Sochi. Legend has it that Prometheus was exiled to the mountains around Sochi, and Sochi has preserved many Roman and Byzantine empire remains, which should tell that Sochi is a city with a time-honored culture.

Sochi’s geographic position is special, in that it belongs to the northernmost region with subtropical climate. From what I have seen and heard here, this is all true. All four seasons of the year are green, the skies and seas are blue, with very good natural alpine ski areas. The people of Sochi are very friendly and hospitable. Sochi is very vital, charming, and the perfect place for holding the Winter Olympic Games. After the Winter Olympic Games, this place will be even better known, and many people, including Chinese tourists, will come here.

这是我第一次来索契，但我对索契早有所闻。我年轻时多次读过《钢铁是怎样炼成的》这本小说，奥斯特洛夫斯基就是在索契完成了这部著作。传说普罗米修斯曾经被禁锢在索契的群山之中，索契保留着不少罗马帝国、拜占庭帝国的遗迹，这足以说明索契是一个历史悠久的文化名城。

索 契地理位置特殊，是地球最北端唯一属于亚热带气候的地区。这次来索契，所见所闻，果然名不虚传。这里四季常绿，蓝蓝的天，蓝蓝的海，有很好的天然高山雪 场。索契人民热情好客。索契很有活力，很有魅力，举办冬奥会再适合不过了。索契冬奥会之后，这里的名声会更大，更多的人包括中国游客会慕名而来。

Q: What are your hopes for the Chinese delegation’s performance during the Sochi Winter Olympics?
您对中国奥运代表团参加索契冬奥会的表现有何期待？

A: China still lags behind in winter sports, especially when it comes to countries that are strong in these fields. In recent years, we have made rather quick progress in ice-skating, with some strengths in free-style skiing. This morning, I met some athletes and coaches of the Chinese sports delegation. The Chinese athletes have made great training efforts, they will carry forward the Olympic spirit, will overcome their selves, go beyond themselves, and develop to their best levels.

Meantime, the Chinese cities of Beijing and Zhangjiakou  have officially put forward their joint application to the International Olympic Committee to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. We are also here to learn from the Russian people, from the Russian athletes, from the strong Russian sports disciplines, and the successful Russian methodology in holding the Winter Olympic Games.

中国冬季运动项 目特别是滑雪项目竞技水平同冰雪运动强国相比还有较大差距。近些年，我们在滑冰项目上进步较快，在自由式滑雪空中技巧等项目上具备一定实力。今天上午，我 见了中国体育代表团部分运动员、教练员。中国运动员为参加索契冬奥会做了艰苦训练，他们会发扬奥林匹克精神，努力战胜自我、超越自我，发挥自己的最好水 平。

同时，中国北京市联合张家口市已经向国际奥委会正式提出申办2022年冬奥会，我们也是来向俄罗斯人民学习的，向俄罗斯运动员学习，向俄罗斯的体育强项学习，向俄罗斯举办冬奥会的成功做法学习。

Q: You will soon have served as China’s state chairman for a year. How does it feel to be the leader of such a big country?
您担任中国国家主席快一年了，领导中国这么大的国家，您的感受是什么？

A: China is a country with a territory of 9.6 million square kilometers, fifty-six nationalities, 1.3 billion inhabitants, with a level of economic development that isn’t very high so far, with the people’s standard of living also not being very high yet. To govern such a country isn’t easy. One has to have a long-term perspective, but be down-to-earth, too. In the past, I have worked in many different places in China. I know very well that from China’s east to its west, from the local to the central level, the differences are too big. Therefore, to be a Chinese leader, one has to understand the issues clearly, to make overall plans while taking all factors into consideration, to maintain an overlall balance, to highlight the key issues, [to mobilize what is pivotal?] , and sometimes, you have to drop small things to grasp big things, […], or figuratively speaking, it takes ten fingers to play the piano.

中国有960万平方公里国土，56个民族，13亿多人口，经济社会发展水平还不高，人民生活水平也还不高，治理这样一个国家很不容易，必须登高望远，同时 必须脚踏实地。我曾在中国不同地方长期工作，深知中国从东部到西部，从地方到中央，各地各层级方方面面的差异太大了。因此，在中国当领导人，必须在把情况 搞清楚的基础上，统筹兼顾、综合平衡，突出重点、带动全局，有的时候要抓大放小、以大兼小，有的时候又要以小带大、小中见大，形象地说，就是要十个指头弹 钢琴。

Q: Last year, when you had just become state chairman, the first country you visited was Russia. This year, right after New Year, the first country you visit is once again Russia. The Russian people feel heartened by this. What were your considerations when making this decision?
去年您就任国家主席后，出访首选国家就是俄罗斯，今年新年伊始，您出访仍首选俄罗斯，对此俄罗斯人民倍感振奋。请问您作出这样的决定有何考虑？

A: Yesterday, I looked back together with President Putin, during our meeting. I am very satisfied with the development of Sino-Russian relations. This is a time when the development of Sino-Russian relations has the most solid foundations, the highest degree of mutual trust, and the greatest degree of regional and global influence. Visits between friends narrow distance, between relatives bring closeness. Holding the Winter Olympic Games is a happy occasion for Russia, and a great event for the international Olympic movement. China and Russia are good neighbors, good friends, and good partners. I and President Putin are old friends. According to the tradition of Chinese people, when neighbors and friends have a happy occasion at their homes, one obviously wants to congratulate and to participate together with the Russian people.

昨天，我同普京总统会晤时共同作了回顾。我对中俄关系发展取得的成果十分满意。当前中俄关系发展是基础最牢、互信最高、地区和国际影响最大的一个时期。

亲戚越走越亲，朋友越走越近。举办冬奥会是俄罗斯的喜事，也是国际奥林匹克运动的盛事。中俄是好邻居、好朋友、好伙伴，我和普京总统是老朋友了。按照中国人的传统，邻居和朋友家里办喜事，当然要来贺喜，同俄罗斯人民共襄盛举。

Q: The 18th central committee’s third plenary session passed the decision to comprehensively deepen reform and on several other important issues. You are the head of the leading group [or steering group, 领导小组]. What is your governing philosophy?

中共十八届三中全会通过了关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定，您本人担任全面深化改革领导小组组长。请问您的执政理念是什么？

A: To focus the abilities to promote reform, we have formed the central leading group for the comprehensive deepening of reform, headed by me. The task is to unify, deploy and to coordinate some important issues. I have called this “one-tenth deployment, nine-tenths implementation”.

In a country like China with 1.3 billion people, it isn’t easy to deepen reform. After 30 years of reform, China has entered the deep water [or blue water], and all the pleasant reforms have been completed. The delicious meat has been eaten, and what is still on the dishes are rather tough bones. This requires our courage, and steady moves. Courage means to push reform even when it is difficult, and to prove worthy, to tackle the hard bones, and to enter dangerous shoals. Steadiness is about keeping to the accurate direction, driving steadily, and, above all, to avoid disruptive mistakes.

To summarize my governing philosophy, it is to serve the people and to assume the responsibilities that are my duties.

为了集中力量推进改革，我们成立了中央全面深化改革领导小组，由我本人担任组长，任务就是统一部署和协调一些重大问题，再把工作任务分解下去逐一落实。我把这叫作“一分部署，九分落实”。

在中国这样一个拥有13亿多人口的国家深化改革，绝非易事。中国改革经过30多年，已进入深水区，可以说，容易的、皆大欢喜的改革已经完成了， 好吃的肉都吃掉了，剩下的都是难啃的硬骨头。这就要求我们胆子要大、步子要稳。胆子要大，就是改革再难也要向前推进，敢于担当，敢于啃硬骨头，敢于涉险 滩。步子要稳，就是方向一定要准，行驶一定要稳，尤其是不能犯颠覆性错误。

我的执政理念，概括起来说就是：为人民服务，担当起该担当的责任。

CCTV Chunwan Gala: Probably not Doing as Bad as Reported

Global Voices had an article a few days ago, on Chinese TV’s (CCTV) New Year’s Gala show, broadcast last Thursday night local time. It’s often been said that the show is losing its former luster. That may be true. But I seem to be getting some hunches that the decline of the show is often overstated.

For one, views expressed on the internet are overstated. The Global Voices article suggests that, according to a recent survey, nearly 60 percent of the viewers were extremely disappointed in the program this year. True, but these sixty percent of viewers expressed their view on the internet, according to the source quoted there. 21,721 people apparently participated in the online survey, and they judged not the show itself, but rather the list of scheduled events during the show.

That said, the show, first broadcast on New Year’s Eve in 1983, is losing appeal, even according to a survey quoted by China Radio International (CRI). The poll in question is said to have been conducted by China Youth Daily on February 28 – i. e., also a vote on the schedule than on the show as aired. 55.4 percent found that the show was outdated. 102,791 people reportedly participated in the China-Youth-Daily survey.

I’m even suggesting that many of the young today who detest the show may get to like it as they grow older and become more conservative. From a demographic perspective, China isn’t a young country anymore, and it is greying rapidly.

All the same, Global Voices offers a summary of the gala which is worth reading. The intentions behind the production are probably interpreted fairly accurately, and two videos are included as samples.

The complete show will be somewhere on the internet.

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Related

» An estimated 700 mn, BBC blog, Jan 31, 2014
» How boring, “Global Times”, Jan 28, 2014
» No toothless Rocker, Jan 18, 2014

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