Yunus Emre Institute has organized the video project competition "I Have Good Reasons to Visit Turkey," in collaboration with YIDIAN, known as China's Facebook with 700 million users, for the promotion of Turkey in China.

The project launched in recent months as part of the declaration of 2018 as "Turkey Tourism Year" in China has left its mark on the Chinese social media environment as more than 150,000 Chinese have participated.

Five Chinese contestants with the most popular videos promoting Turkey uploaded to YIDIAN's website and five Chinese social media celebrities came to Turkey along with senior executives of YIDIAN.

For the winners in the project, Cao Jing, Shao Wenting, Feng Binquan, Zheng Jian and Li Pei, an award ceremony was held in Istanbul on Thursday, December 20.

Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş delivered a keynote speech recalling that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping inked a deal for the opening of a cultural center in China by the Institute and a cultural center in Turkey by the People's Republic of China.

Noting that five separate groups from China had been welcomed in Turkey as part of the project "Be Our Guest and Let's Write Down the Truth Together," which sought to neutralize the negative perceptions about Turkey in the Chinese media, which were attribute to the Western sources, Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş mentioned the results of this project, launched in collaboration with the Chinese media network, YIDIAN.

"Thanks to these efforts to improve the perceptions, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Turkey has risen to 400,000 this year. We hope that this figure will reach the 1-million mark. The launching of flights between the two countries by the Turkish Airlines (THY) and Chinese Airlines will further facilitate the closer ties between the two deep-rooted nations. At the same time, major investors from Chinese will be visiting Istanbul in early January. These investors will meet their Turkish counterparts to discuss business opportunities," he said.            

Regarding the contest "I Have Good Reasons to Visit Turkey," Institute President Ateş indicated that of 150,000 applicants, 300 finalists were selected and among them, five were awarded with the one-week holiday in Turkey. Ateş noted that in addition to the five winners, five social media celebrities will be welcomed in Istanbul, İzmir, the ancient city of Ephesus, Kuşadası and Cappadocia, adding that the posts these guests will make with the Chinese media during the time they spend in Turkey will contribute to the positive image of Turkey in China.

Following the award ceremony, an informational meeting was held about the activities conducted in China.

The program ended with the stage performance by a Beijing Opera artist on the story of a sultan in the palace.