By Moacy Carlos
First Secretary of Federação Nacional dos Jornalistas – FENAJ, Brazil
A group of 100 journalists from more than 40 countries gathered in China from July 14 to 20 for the 2025 Belt and Road Journalists Forum. The event was a unique opportunity for exchange and debate on the challenges of sustainable development for Global South countries, as well as for understanding the role of journalism in achieving that goal.
In addition to the discussion forums, the journalists were invited to visit various locations in the cities of Nanchang, Fuzhou, and Ganzhou. During these visits, the pristine urban cleanliness, the quality of the roads, the beauty of the gardens and squares, and the immense number of trees stood out. However, other things also caught my attention.
1) At the Jiangxi Provincial Museum, we encountered a large number of people visiting its exhibits. Many children and young people, some with their families.
2) At the Aixi Lake Wetland Park, in the library located there, more young people, children, and adults spent the afternoon reading among the trees and water springs, in a vast natural reserve that preserves local flora and fauna.
3) In the Wenchangli Historical and Cultural District, hundreds of people watched the performance of “The Peony Pavilion,” by Tang Xianzu, while thousands of others explored the area, attending other performances, buying handcrafted souvenirs, or enjoying local foods.
4) And at a fragrance center, many children were using their hands in workshops making scented candles, perfumes, soaps, and incense.
Individually, these facts might not seem significant. But seen together, they form the foundation of a vision for social construction — with care for the cultural formation of youth, the preservation of ancestral roots and national history, and a sense of unity grounded in the values of the country’s civilization.
This clear investment by the country in various actions to promote culture, quality of life, and environmental preservation — among other initiatives — is happening in parallel with a major project to develop cutting-edge technology, anchored in radical strategic planning, as we saw at the Nanchang Planning Exhibition Center.
With respect for its history and the teachings of its millennia-old traditions, China moves forward. With a united people, it invests in advanced knowledge, which returns in the form of quality of life and economic growth.
In my view, this is the great legacy I take from the 2025 Forum and from China. It was an opportunity for great learning. Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, says that socialism in his country has its own characteristics. And he is right. There are enormous differences among all the countries represented at this event. But there is something they can have in common: the pursuit of social justice based on each nation’s potential and the valuing of its people and its roots.
If I could summarize my feelings about what Brazil and Latin America can take from the experiences I witnessed in China, I would put it in the following phrase: it is essential to value history and cultural formation as the foundation for a sustainable development policy that promotes economic growth along with improved quality of life for the people.
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.