Wuhan Releases Three Publications to Share China’s Yangtze River Stories with the World

On August 17, the international seminar “Opportunity China · Discover Wuhan” was held at Wuhan International Communication Center. Three key publications were unveiled: Meeting the East: Sino‑Foreign Youth Expedition Memoir of the Ten‑Thousand‑Li Tea Road, Opportunity China · Discover Wuhan‑Wuhan Opportunity White Paper, and the multilingual picture book Home on the Yangtze River.

At the end of 2025, Wuhan International Communication Center joined Wuhan University to organize young participants from Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos and other countries for a two‑month field journey retracing the Ten‑Thousand‑Li Tea Road. The group travelled across nine Chinese provinces, visiting heritage sites and documenting living tea culture, rural development and industrial innovation from international youth perspectives.

Young foreign participants gained vivid insights along the route. Russian students were impressed by lively Chinese tea festivals. Mongolian students discovered historical cultural heritage through traditional tea‑packing crafts. A Malaysian student experienced the heavy‑weight tea‑brick production and understood ancient transportation wisdom. Youth from Laos witnessed how saline‑alkali land was transformed into tea plantations, realizing the ancient tea road was also a path of exploration. This cross‑border fieldwork resulted in a Chinese‑English bilingual book and documentary video series.

The multilingual picture book Home on the Yangtze River features the Yangtze finless porpoise, known as the “smiling angel of the Yangtze”. Wuhan has built a complete international IP around the porpoise. Porpoise‑themed exhibitions have toured North and South America. Short videos, cultural‑creative products and digital works keep spreading overseas. Scholars and experts from multiple continents serve as international ambassadors for the Yangtze finless porpoise. Scholars from Bangladesh and France shared their observations, praising wildlife recovery achieved by the Yangtze River conservation campaign. The story of a long‑term American volunteer protecting porpoises has drawn attention from overseas official institutions.

Wuhan’s porpoise conservation experience has gone global. Delegates from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and other countries have visited Wuhan to learn conservation models. Local practices provide references for aquatic‑species protection in other Asian river basins. In April 2026, the Yangtze finless porpoise was officially designated Wuhan’s city mascot by local legislation.

Through books, picture books and first‑hand youth experiences, the cultural legacy of the Ten‑Thousand‑Li Tea Road and ecological stories of the Yangtze River help global audiences understand a real‑world, multi‑dimensional Wuhan and China.