On the morning of November 4, the organizing committee of the “Speak·Shenzhen” campaign held a meeting at Wuzhou Guest House attended by Deputy Mayor Zhang Wen.

    We were told that the campaign was to mobilize all Shenzhen citizens to speak English, to speed up the construction of a modern and international city, to strengthen the comprehensive competitive power of a city and facilitate international communication.

    Four of our Shenzhen junior English journalists were invited to attend the meeting. Enthusiastically, we tried our best to seize any opportunity to conduct an interview.

    The first interviewee was Ms. Tang in charge of the foreign affairs office. I asked her how to motivate citizens to learn English. She answered patiently: “The government will take full advantage of its creativity to hold all kinds of activities in public. Through various activities, citizens can experience exotic cultures and acquire more knowledge so they will enjoy learning English.”

    Later, Deputy Mayor Zhang addressed the audience and granted us an interview.

    We asked his opinion of this campaign.

    “It’s really important and necessary for us to promote English to Shenzhen citizens because it can create a multi-cultural atmosphere, accelerate the development of Shenzhen, and present the world with an international and cosmopolitan image of Shenzhen during the 26th Universiade,” he said.

    I’ve gradually learned how the government is making an all-out effort for all citizens to have a better city, a better life. And I firmly believe that this campaign will be influential and Shenzhen will be a prosperous city.