艾美艾尊

CCTV awed by Sultan's anticipated participation in CNY celebrations

FOR Bruneians, it may not come as a surprise that His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam will be participating in today's Chinese New Year celebration hosted by the Tiong Hwa community in the Sultanate.

But for Chinese media, it is a unique occasion.

Visiting crew from China Central Television (CCTV) find it a cultural rarity outside of Chinese-dominated communities and thus deserves generous airtime during their live telecast today.

The celebrations with His Majesty will be beamed to television sets in China today during a one-hour programme on CCTV.

"I was a bit surprised to hear that the ruler of Brunei would be attending a function organised by the Chinese community during Chinese New Year," said Chan Wai Chiu, a correspondent with the CCTV crew. "It shows the tolerance and multicultural aspects of Brunei."

"In Hong Kong, the chief executive will join the Chinese New Year celebration, maybe some of the events are organised by the government," Chan added.

Fellow CCTV correspondent He Runfeng commented that such an occasion is "not normal for a (predominantly) non-Chinese community".

"In mainland China, it's the Chairman of the country and other important figures, every year they will hold a big event to celebrate and say something to the Chinese people, not all the mainland Chinese people but the global Chinese population," he said.

Along with cameraman Joe Wong, He and Chan are in the country to film and produce a television programme to be broadcast live today.

"At this moment we have already finished three feature stories and we have one more to finish," said He.

"The stories will be part of the live telecast. We will do a live programme in front of the ICC (International Convention Centre)."

He said the crew had already chosen a live location and would also send three cameras to record the occasion.

"The live programme will last about an hour and will broadcast the feature stories and introduce what is happening (at the ICC), and that the Sultan is celebrating with the Chinese community," he said.

CCTV has also invited Wu Chun, Brunei's very own pop star, who would also say something as part of the celebration.

The programme will be relayed live back to Beijing, and from China's capital it will be transmitted throughout the country.


source: http://www.bt.com.bn