Leader's vision helps CIPG adapt to a crowded market
- By Lauren Ratcliffe
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China.org.cn, July 19, 2011
In an office where bookcases filled to the brim line the walls and a "sleeping" room is used for storage rather than napping, China International Publishing Group Vice President and Editor-in-Chief Huang Youyi never rests.
Working tirelessly each day from early in the morning until midnight, Huang spends much of his time preparing speeches and editing manuscripts. He also arranges training and assignments for CIPG staff, and is always looking for ways to help move the company forward in a market that is quickly changing.
In 1995, he was the first member of CIPG's staff to suggest the company build a news website. That website, China.org.cn, is thriving and adapting more than a decade later. A staff of roughly 300 publishes news and cultural content about China in nine languages including English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, German, and Japanese.
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Huang Youyi, vice president of China International Publishing Group |
Huang credits his work ethic to his experiences as a teenager working on the China-Soviet border during the Cultural Revolution. "If you work very hard at a young age, you develop an inertia that will help you in later life," Huang said.
Huang said he hopes to build CIPG into a leading provider of multilingual information and multimedia content. To accomplish this goal, CIPG focuses on two principal missions: bringing timely, detailed news and information about China to international readers, and bringing international news, stories and books to the Chinese market.
Moving forward, Huang said CIPG faces two major challenges: training the company's journalists to report original material and adapting to new media. Huang said he is eager to hire, train and cultivate bilingual writers who can report in multiple languages.
This summer, China.org.cn has hosted two professors from the University of North Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communication to train staff in news writing, editing and reporting. CIPG also sends several its journalists and executives to train at UNC and the University of Missouri's School of Journalism each year.
Huang's internationally-focused vision in part stems from his own experiences living abroad as a student and translator. In 1983, Huang attended the University of Massachusetts, earning a master's degree in American history. As one of only a few foreign students in his department, he said he took the time to immerse himself in American culture to understand the people better.
That understanding is something he hopes CIPG employees can also acquire through participating in international exchange programs. "Given the jobs we do, we have to expose [our staff] to international culture," he said. Huang earned his bachelor's degree in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University. His career with CIPG began in the mid-1970s. He has spent 18 years as a Vice President for CIPG, becoming editor-in-chief in 2002.
Huang said he believes in the future of internet media. "People are talking about mobile information and saying the internet is dead," Huang said. "I don't believe it, of course."
Huang said that CIPG is poised to face the challenges of providing timely, original news and cultural content to a global audience.
"It's a niche we are ready to fill," he said.
