With the new September 3rd holiday coming up, China is reaching around the world to tell its story of victory over Japanese troops. The day marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, or the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China’s parlance, and the country is going all out to spread its message.
Shenzhen-based telecoms company ZTE produced a slick propaganda video honoring China’s war veterans, and the video is being broadcast in Times Square. While the effectiveness of a Chinese-language video publicly broadcast to Americans is debatable, the message is getting through loud and clear in China. ZTE has since released a second video showing New Yorkers in Times Square with the war memorial video playing on a big screen in the background.
It should be noted that this was not just an altruistic endeavour, as ZTE does plenty of self-promotion in the video.
The video mentions the needs of Chinese veterans just as it praises ZTE for meeting those needs. In a bit of shameless self-promotion, ZTE claimed that it “never ceased its efforts in the past decade to care for the remaining veterans” through the contribution of “love money”. The veterans are grateful and “feel love and warmth” towards ZTE because of its efforts. The video closes by saying “ZTE will go on a love expedition” and “[offer] love and care so the warmth can be felt”.
Here’s the video showing the broadcast from Times Square:
And here’s the actual video itself, complete with stirring music and narration:
The full, and translated, text of the video is:
70 years ago, they were all young soldiers
Today, they are all old
Most of them have passed away quietly
No time should be lost to find and salute these surviving heroes
ZTE has never ceased efforts in the past decade to care for the remaining veterans
Every year, we travel long distances to deliver “love money” to the beloved
Veterans feel love and warmth from this
Every time we meet, we cherish the memory of the martyrs, and recall history
Each visit is full of moving moments
What does 10 years mean?
Representing business, he offers love and care so the warmth can be felt
and for life to enjoy due respect
They don’t need too much
They just need people to remember them, and chat with them
Ten years is just a beginning
ZTE will go on a love expedition
