[ Manila Bulletin Online ] November 12, 2008
By JUNE S. BLANCO
The festive parade and street dancing during the First Bohol-Jiangxi Friendship Day celebration last May 8, as well as top tourist draw the Chocolate Hills were featured in the July-August 2008 issue of the Jiangxi Pictorial, a full color magazine published by Bohol’s sister province in the People’s Republic of China.
Ambassador Carlos Chan, the Philippines’ special envoy to China, gave Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado a copy of the magazine during his recent visit to Bohol as one of the President Carlos P. Garcia Leadership awardees to commemorate the late president’s 112th birthday.
The pictures found space on pages 58-59 of the 66-page magazine under its "Outside World" section. The titles and subtitles have English translations but all the text are in Chinese.
Together with "The First Baohe-Jiangxi Friendship Day" in the section was the Egret Singing and Crane Dancing – Selected Photographic Works From Yang Xiaoming. "Baohe" is the Chinese translation for Bohol.
Also on Page 58 was the picture of Deputy Director General and delegation head Ye Lei of the General Office of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Government and Deputy Director-General Fu Pengpeng of Jiangxi’s Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office as they paid a courtesy call on Aumentado – with local interpreter Jennifer Diez, a teacher at the Bohol Wisdom School. Delegation interpreter Zhu Jincheng took the picture.
Other photos on the spread together with the Chocolate Hills were of the float, the lyre players of a drum and bugle corps and its majorettes as they moved from the Rizal Park to the Bohol Cultural Center where the friendship day grand program was held, and of dancers performing the tinikling, the Philippines’ national dance, at the atrium of the City Hall.
Aumentado had sought the help of Jiangxi’s 43 million people to help vote for the Chocolate Hills into the worldwide search for the New Seven Wonders of Nature through Internet voting.
A check with www.new7 wonders.com showed the Chocolate Hills at No. 4 among 77 sites from all over the world in the current live ranking. A country is allowed only one candidate so that the highest ranked site as of December 31, 2008 will qualify to be voted upon until July 31, 2009.
Ye was quick to rise to the task. Speaking through Zhu during the grand program, he said he was happy to know that the Chocolates Hills has been short-listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.
"We will publicize the beautiful scenery of the Chocolate Hills to the people of Jiangxi, and encourage them to vote for the Chocolate Hills," he said.
True to his word, Zhu sent an e-mail last month detailing how they publicized the Chocolate Hills in Jiangxi’s main media and in the "popular magazine" Jiangxi Pictorial.
For the internet savvy, he said they invited Jiangxi netizens to visit www.jxnews.com.cn and vote for the Chocolate Hills.
The website also has a photograph of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo shaking hands with Minister Meng Jianzhu, now state councilor, member of the Leading Party Members’ Group of the State Council, minister of public security and secretary of the Chinese People’s Congress committee of the ministry.
