Delighted children dancing and rapping in a music video, singing praises about the benefits of trade and investments, and the prospect of mutual prosperity, as they imagine a brighter future promised by China's “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative.

How weird it is to see kids talk about high-level regional initiatives? Well, apparently China's propagandists think it's a good idea.

They have put out the English video online on May 9, just days before a Beijing summit this weekend that will welcome leaders from around the world to discuss the ambitious regional project spearheaded by China.

Featuring a group of children hailing from the countries that lie along the OBOR route, the video showed them singing to a catchy tune of a grammatically awkward sounding song named, “The Belt and Road Is How” (“how” is a near-homonym of hao, the Chinese word for “good”).

In case you have not seen it, here is the video:

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Appeal to younger overseas audiences

More than 10 young singers were involved in the making of the video, as they sang some pretty cringeworthy lyrics about the breaking of barriers and the making of history, against a backdrop of different international landmarks which include the pyramids of Egypt, the onion domes in Russia, and the skyline of modern cities.

Products and goods, they’re only a part

From apples and cranes, they’re state-of-the-art

We’re paving new roads, building more ports

Finding new options with friends of all sorts

It’s a culture exchange, we trade in our wealth

We connect with our hearts, it strengthens our health

With our lines and our cables, diplomacy tables

We’ll share in a world of prosperity

This latest piece of musical propaganda will not be a smash hit but it does reflect a deliberate effort on China's part to win the hearts and minds of younger overseas audiences.

Communicating a friendly image.

In recent years, China has been trying to polish its outdated approach in communicating a friendly image to skeptical overseas audiences about its growing power and its policy agenda, often utilising domestically banned platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, that are targeted at audiences beyond its borders.

The video is the latest release by Fuxing Road Studio (复兴路上工作室), a media outfit known for producing English videos that seek to explain China’s latest policies in an engaging way.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal in 2016, the production house is secretive about its affiliation, but is believed to be part of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department.

Past videos include How Are Leaders Made? in 2013, the 13th Five-Year Plan with a jovial pop song voiced by North American singers in 2015 and using traditional Chinese martial arts to illustrate the new economic development model.

It also coincides with state media China Daily’s Belt and Road Bedtime Talks video series, in which a father, played by China Daily journalist Erik Nilsson, explains to his daughter how China President Xi Jinping plans to extend China's political and economic power across Asia and the Middle East. It has released four episodes so far.

Top photo adapted from YouTube video

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