Awaleh’s Train of Dreams

The year 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. In June of 2023, 28 trainees from the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway arrived in Zhengzhou to participate in the training of electric locomotive skills. Over several months of filming, the journalists captured the story through a ""web-oriented and youthful"" narrative style, showcasing the significant changes brought to the lives of Djibouti and Ethiopian people by the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, China's first fully-integrated overseas railway project, from the perspective of trainee Awaleh. The story tells how African youths are realizing their dreams on the vast continent, demonstrating the fruitful results of the Belt and Road Initiative. The short video, Awaleh’s Train of Dreams, effectively communicates the story of China's friendly cooperation with overseas countries, presenting a credible, lovable, and respectable image of China to the world. It has broadened our ""circle of friends"" in international communication and accumulated valuable experience for the Transportation Division to further enhance its external communication efforts. The video was first released on the Elephant News, assisted by Henan Radio and Television's full-media platform. It was also published on central media outlets such as the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily Online, and China.org.cn. Microblog topics such as ""African Youth Learning to Drive Trains in Zhengzhou"" and ""Post-90s African Youth Wants to Drive Chinese High-Speed Trains"" trended on social media. The video was also released on overseas social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok, with over 130 million views across the network.