Greek immigrants listen to Greek stories: “Only by adhering to the media philosophy of 'rooting in foreign soil and effectively communicating livelihoods,' and relying on objective, in-depth, accurate, and timely news reporting and media dissemination, can we build a bridge of communication and development between local overseas Chinese and mainstream society.” Wang Peng, Editor-in-Chief of the Greek 'China-Greece Times,' said this during an interview in Gansu recently.
The 'China-Greece Times' is currently the only Chinese-language print media in Greece and the southern Balkan Peninsula. It was launched in January 2005. To better serve the local Chinese community, the Greek Chinese portal website—xizhongwang.com—was founded in 2010. Born in the early 1980s into an intellectual family in Nanjing, China, Wang Peng is now the Editor-in-Chief of the Greek 'China-Greece Times' and one of its founders.
From August 30 to September 6, at the invitation of the China News Service, Wang Peng, along with other overseas Chinese media colleagues, participated in the 'Walking in China—Gansu Tour,' visiting the 8,000-year-old civilization sites in Gansu. In Qingyang, Gansu, the birthplace of agricultural civilization, this young Editor-in-Chief shared with reporters the history of an overseas student's entrepreneurial journey and spoke of the 'Chinese Dream'—a Chinese person's deep attachment to Chinese culture while living abroad.
“After graduation, I had nothing to my name, just a heart full of passion. At that time, Chinese people in Greece were solely focused on business, and the cultural field was almost a blank slate,” Wang said. “I just wanted to fill this void and give the Chinese in Greece their own 'cultural position.'”
In 2002, after graduating from the Nanjing University of the Arts, Wang Peng went to study in Greece. “My major was design art, but I believed that to understand the motherland and pass on Chinese culture, running a newspaper to deliver news and information was the most powerful way.”
At that time, like all young people, Wang Peng loved Greek mythology and history and longed for the romantic atmosphere of the Aegean Sea. After two years of study, he developed an even deeper affection for the country. “Greece is my second home,” Wang said. “I have endured many hardships and walked a long road over these years, but I have never changed my original intention of using my modest efforts to do something for the overseas Chinese in Greece.”
Today, the 'China-Greece Times' and xizhongwang.com have significant influence in Greece, and Wang Peng is almost a household name in Athens. Everyone knows there is a young Chinese man who has brought a lot of modern information from another 'ancient civilization' to Greece.
“The early days of the newspaper were full of difficulties. At the most 'bleak' times, I had to take on everything myself: interviewing, writing, graphic design, layout, and distribution,” Wang recalled. For about half a year, he was the only person working at the entire newspaper, yet he gritted his teeth and persisted in publishing on time.
“The Greeks are very friendly to the Chinese,” Wang said. Since the first group of overseas Chinese arrived in Greece over a decade ago, they have brought authentic Chinese goods and food to the locals, and the hardworking and resilient lifestyle of the overseas Chinese is also influencing the Greeks around them.
Wang Peng said that overseas Chinese need an information platform for communication. Due to language barriers and an unfamiliar environment, they are also eager to know what is happening every day in that ancient and mysterious country, what the newspapers are saying, what the television is reporting, and why there are flags and demonstrations in the bustling Syntagma Square. Such information is intimately related to the present and future of the Chinese living in Greece. The 'China-Greece Times' is such an information platform built with ancient Chinese characters. It tells the Chinese living here about the major events happening in Greece, and tells the distant wanderers who care about their hometown about the major events happening in China. Above the real life in Greece and Athens, this newspaper, through the print media 'China-Greece Times' and the web portal 'xizhongwang.com,' describes to people 'another Greece' and 'another China.'