Personal Statement

Applied Program: Mass Communications

On the eve of the New Year 2002 (in Chinese lunar calendar), President George W. Bush of the United States was flying to Beijing from the other side of the Pacific Ocean in his Air Force No.1. Meanwhile, the personnel in the American Embassy in Beijing were busy searching for a most appropriate booklet that could familiarize the members of this large delegation with the ancient Oriental Capital of Beijing. They were almost at their wits’ end when they came upon an exquisitely prepared medium-sized Beijing Official Guide. On the cover of the particular issue that they laid hands on, the design was that of part of a red-colored traditional Chinese garment, carrying the symbolic implication that foreign visitors to China during that season of the year would have a prosperous and propitious Chinese New Year in Beijing. The moment the delegation settled in the hotel, every member of the delegation was presented with one copy of the booklet, including the President himself. They were immediately greeted with a deep festival atmosphere. To my pride, as the representative from China CYTS Tours Holding Co. Ltd. (the largest of its kind in China), I was the person in charge of the preparation and the publication of this beautiful magazine.

I love mass communications both as a subject and as a possible career objective. With distinguished scholastic performance at the highly competitive nationwide college entrance examination, I entered the most prestigious educational institution of journalism and mass communications – Journalism and Communications School of Peking University. The School is also one of the two institutions in China that are qualified to award Ph. D. degrees in Journalism and Mass Communications. The moment I entered this university, I realized that for the rest of my lifetime I would be inseparably connected with the cause of journalism and communications. The splendid courses in my specialty delivered by senior professors, as well as the lectures and seminars by Chinese best researchers and practitioners in the field, exposed me to the beautiful horizons of journalism and its related subjects. The course that fascinated me most was Mass Communications offered by the School’s senior professor--- Prof. Long X X. It allowed me to gain an in-depth understanding of how periodicals, magazines, broadcasting, film and television, book publication, advertising and other forms of mass media have created profound and drastic social changes in the modern era with its highly developed information and communications. I was virtually intoxicated by this modern information science tinted with an artistic touch.

My diligence in the coursework resulted in my top 5% ranking in my class. As our school’s grading system was unusually strict, my GPA failed to be as good as I would have desired. But I would like to call your attention to my performance in my specialty-related subjects. My GPA would have been much higher if I maintained my academic momentum of the first two years. However, as I became more and more involved in extracurricular practices for the last two year, my performance in coursework became slightly affected. Nevertheless, I take comfort in the fact I excelled most of my classmates in practical abilities.

Journalism is more a professional training than a theoretical course. Textbooks alone could not present to me in detail all the social realities, nor could they tell me how to become an accomplished journalist. I told myself that all these could only be worked out through practice. Therefore, while learning the course News Interviewing and Writing, I conducted internships at local newspaper offices and those internships brought me some initial experience as a journalist. Since I started working as a part-time correspondent and editor in 2000, I published more than ten articles. Back on campus, my classmates and I launched a fairly influential campus newspaper News Weekly, an important event which was reported by CCTV, China’s No. 1 official media. In addition, in collaboration with the Students Unions from other colleges and universities in Beijing, I organized the “Sixth Film Festival of College Students in Beijing”. As a member of our university’s Youth Volunteer Association, I also participated in charity activities designed to offer assistance to local handicapped students in a Deaf and Mute School. In undertaking those activities, I developed a deeper understanding of the concept Communication and its implications.

In my studies and practices, I have come to realize the reason behind my love for journalism and communications – the possibility of highlighting my personality and the value of my life in the articles that I write. I am a person committed to ideals and justice. I especially admire the principle of “the freedom of the press” in Western countries with developed media industry. I consider it the obligation of my profession to present the general public with the truths behind each major event. During my internship at China Business Times, I was assigned to report on some illegal coalmines in China’s Guangxi , Anhui, and Shanxi provinces. Disguising ourselves as local coalminers, Aim Lee, the magazine’s chief correspondent, and I went to remote mountain areas where illegal coalmines were located to conduct interviews with local coalminers. Although our lives were at risk, our strong sense of justice prompted us to collect first-hand materials and to present our factual reports. Due to our reportorial efforts, those illegal coalmines with dangerous working conditions were shut down by local governments and out of this incident I savored my initial sense of professional achievement.

When I set to write my graduation thesis, I conducted serious reflections on the changing conditions of mass media themselves. The year 2000 marked drastic changes in China’s media industry, with some conventional media becoming digitalized or merged with a few media giants. However, based on my actual investigations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, three major cities in China, and on my statistical analysis, I discovered that behind the apparent boom of China’s media industry was the so-called “bubble phenomena.” What seemed to be the prosperity of the industry was actually a deceptive illusion resulting from the self-complacence of some practitioners of the profession in a state of self-insulation. In my thesis, I focused on analyzing the underlying problems of China newspaper industry and proposing possible solutions for a healthy development in the future. My thesis was highly appreciated by Prof. Tang X X, a senior professor of our school.

After graduation, I have been working at the President’s Office of China CYTS Tours Holding Co. Ltd where I am responsible for the construction of Public Relations of the company, including the relations with the mainstream media of the country. My responsibilities also include drafting company documents and doing market research. Every busy day I spend proves rewarding. My most important professional achievement is the cooperation with the world famous advertiser Leo Burnett Shanghai Advertising Co. Ltd (Beijing Branch) in the 3-month project of CYTS Brand Construction and Management in which I was responsible for data collection, quantitative and qualitative analysis, VI design and creation. Another achievement is the launching of the CYTS Magazine. By exercising my knowledge of journalism in editing this magazine, I allowed it to be pluralistic in value orientation, rigorous in content, unique in the perspectives that are presented.

An outstanding journalist should have the courage to aim at a constant conquest of new challenges. This is the requirement that I impose on myself. Apart from performing my heavy workload everyday, I have made great efforts to improve my English proficiency because I have always cherished a strong desire to pursue advanced studies in Mass Communications in the United States, the country which has the most developed media industry. In my work, I have had much experience with both domestic and international media. My conclusion is that, in terms of concept, operation and technical level, Chinese media practitioners have much to learn from their American counterparts. With its mature media industry, the United States can offer me a unique opportunity to grasp the essence of this fascinating industry. Among its many fascinating features, the Department of Communications of the University of ----------------- offers program that emphasizes practice-oriented trainings that enable prospective students to experience the realities of media industry in the United States. This is very much in line with my belief that Mass Communications is more empirical than theoretical. Therefore, apart from learning the classical theories of mass communications, I will focus more on the improvement of my professional competence by carrying out actual assignments under the guidance of my supervisor. It is my belief that my academic pursuit will be very fruitful and for this reason I will feel very proud of myself for being able to study at such an internationally prestigious university.