On November 8, 2012, Zhou Mingwei, president of China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and currently a delegate attending the on-going 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), sat down with China.org.cn for an exclusive interview. He talked about the path China has taken over the past few years in regards to its international communication and about his expectations of the 18th CPC National Congress.

China.org.cn: The 18th CPC National Congress opened this morning. As a representative attending the conference, what do you think is the mission of this congress?

Zhou: When I was informed that I had been elected Party representative, I was greatly honored.

This congress will not only summarize the successes and experiences of development which have been obtained by the CPC leading this 1.3 billion-population country during times of both domestic and international changes, but also examine the problems and challenges faced by the ruling party and plan the direction, principle, path and policy for the Party itself as well as the national development. Therefore, this is a very important congress.

During this congress, the Party Constitution will be amended, and a new Central Committee and central collective leadership will be elected. This is not only a great event for the CPC, but also a very important matter for every Chinese citizen. As a representative, I'll do my bit to perform my duties at the congress.

China.org.cn: What do you expect of this landmark congress?

Zhou: First, I expect the formation of a new central collective leadership. This is not only extremely important for any ruling party, but also very important for China and even the world. It will affect the future of CPC and China for the next five or ten years, or even longer. This year has seen replacement of the leadership in dozens of countries across the world. The congress, therefore, is also of great concern to the international community.

China.org.cn: What do you think about the international communication at the 18th Party congress?

Zhou: I think this is a very good moment to introduce China to the world. Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, the CPC has guided China towards great achievements. This congress is an opportunity to present these experiences and achievements. To let the world know better about China, we should first of all introduce to the world the CPC and its ruling principles, policies and practices. This conference actually provides abundant media resources.

China.org.cn: Mo Yan recently won the Nobel Prize in Literature. This triggered the discussion and thinking from the Chinese side on the so-called distribution of Chinese culture. While showcasing China to the world, we should also make sure that what we are showing is accepted and welcomed by the outside world. As a leader of China's largest foreign language publication group, what's your idea about the dispersion of Chinese culture and civilization?

Zhou: I was excited when I learned Mo Yan had won the Nobel Prize. This not only is his personal victory, but also signifies a very high form of appreciation for Chinese culture and contemporary Chinese literature on an international level.

Talking about cross-cultural communication, we need to well manage the language translation and the cultural differences underlying any linguistic change. In addition, I also take into consideration two other problems.

First of all, we need to find correlations between China's culture and civilization and the world's culture and civilization as the development of China's culture and civilization is an integral part of the world's. We should bring them closer for a better and more effective communication. Chinese culture and values developed over a long history are unique and distinctive, but they also share something in common with those of the world. We must pay attention to highlight such commonalities while distributing Chinese culture.

Secondly, in the process of presenting China to the world, we should make more efforts to learn about other cultures. How far and quick China integrates into the world culture will, to a certain extent, depend on our understanding of cultures outside of our nation. We need to learn about the cultures that bear higher levels of economic development and have far-reaching impacts on global cultural development.

At the same time, we should also learn about the cultures of developing countries, which are invaluable resources to global culture. We maintain close relationships with most developing countries, and learning their cultures will be conducive to our own cultural development.

Thus, the dispersion of Chinese culture is not only a matter of meeting the demand of the international community to know China, but also a process of communication and exchange with other cultures. Such communication and exchange will help to facilitate mutual respect and promote cultural diversity, and in the meantime help to promote Chinese cultural development and prosperity.