Date: July 1, 2022

Source: News Centre

Author: Tian Jingwen, Lu Shiwen

Zheng Xinian, a student in the School of Journalism and Communication's 2019 class in Cantonese broadcasting and hosting, was among the winners of the Top 10 Outstanding Hong Kong Students Awards of the Greater Bay Area. Leading the department of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Affairs under the Guangzhou Audio Books Association and the Cantonese section of JNU's Shenghai Studio, he has been dedicated to developing podcasts in Cantonese and established Hong Kong Youth: Pursue Dreams in the Greater Bay Area, a program that has attracted over a million hits online. Zheng has also served as vice president of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region Southern District Youth Program Committee and chairman of JNU’s Union of Hong Kong Students. He received an award for his efforts to advance youth development from the Hong Kong Home Affairs Department. Born and brought up in Hong Kong, he has strived to promote communications between the mainland and his hometown using his own voice.

(Zheng Xinian)

In 2019, Zheng applied to JNU through the Principal's Recommendation Scheme and was accepted to major in Cantonese broadcasting and hosting, ranking first in auditions for students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Since then, he has embarked on a new journey of exploration on campus, studying with his classmates from across the country who have shared diverse characteristics, living and educational backgrounds.

(2019 class in broadcasting and hosting)

(Zheng Xinian)

To convey the real voices of China to Hong Kong people in their mother tongue from the perspective of Hong Kong youth, Zheng joined the Shenghai Studio as a Cantonese broadcaster at the invitation of Lin Xiaoyu, dean of the Department of Oral Communication.

Zheng had ample hosting experience and won many prizes in recitation contests in high school, all of which laid a solid foundation for his extraordinary performance in the Shenghai Studio. 

(A makeshift recording studio in the hotel)

From an ordinary broadcaster to a core member and leader of the Cantonese section of the Shenghai Studio, he not only committed to telling Chinese culture and the history of the Communist Party of China well but also took advantage of his identity as a Hong Kong youth, as well as a broadcasting and hosting major, to empower the studio, actively spreading the voices of youth both in Hong Kong and mainland China. 

(Zheng Xinian)

Growing up in Hong Kong as a native speaker of Cantonese, Zheng could keenly observe the subtle differences between Cantonese on the mainland and in Hong Kong in terms of accent and idiom. He paid particular attention to the details of the podcast and made efforts to reduce the differences in expression, adapting his work to the listening habits of audiences from Hong Kong and Guangdong.

(Zheng Xinian in the recording studio)

(Zheng Xinian in Hon Wah College)

Zheng joined the Hong Kong Special Administration Region Southern District Youth Program Committee in 2016 and was elected as vice president, responsible for matters including as the selection of outstanding youth for the committee. As a youth representative, he was once invited to provide suggestions for the Policy Address, with a view to improving the regional development.

(Group photo of Hong Kong Special Administration Region Southern District Youth Program Committee in Southern District

first from the left: Zheng Xinian)

Zheng also led JNU's Union of Hong Kong Students to extend its activities beyond campus, working with CMG Radio The Greater Bay to speak for the youth of Hong Kong on a higher platform.

(Zheng Xinian competing for Top 10 Outstanding Hong Kong Students Awards of the Greater Bay Area)