CMG launches China-France culinary competition program for food culture exchange

China Media Group (CMG) unveiled a new culinary competition program aimed at fostering cultural exchange between China and France through the lens of food arts on Tuesday, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's scheduled state visit to France in early May.

CMG President Shen Haixiong, French ambassador to China Bertrand Lortholary, and Wu Weishan, curator of National Art Museum of China, delivered speeches at the launching ceremony and jointly unveiled the program with participating guests.

The program consists of 10 episodes, each lasting 60 minutes, featuring 20 emerging chefs from both China and France competing in the culinary showdown.

Distinguished diplomats, renowned cultural scholars, and expert food critics will together judge the delectable creations, with winning dishes earning a coveted spot on the "China-France Chef Master Menu."

"The program will showcase the chefs' exceptional culinary skills and the top-notch quality of ingredients from both countries. It will also bolster the enduring cultural and people-to-people connections between the two nations through the promotion of cultural heritage and innovation," said the French ambassador to China.

Through this cross-cultural culinary exchange, viewers will embark on a journey to savor the essence of Chinese and French cuisines, appreciate the richness of their respective cultures, and witness the blossoming of cross-cultural communication.

Scheduled for broadcast in July, the program will be aired on various channels and new media platforms by CMG and French media outlets.

"When chefs from these two countries compete together, we can feel the unique cultural traits that shape their culinary approaches, much like appreciating the distinct styles of French sculpture and oil painting as well as the Chinese ink painting and calligraphy," said Wu.

As a leading global media platform with unparalleled reach and influence, CMG has been actively fostering collaborations across various sectors in France, facilitating a vibrant exchange of cultures between the two nations.

Launching such a culinary program is part of its latest endeavor to showcase the rich cultural heritage and culinary traditions of China and France through a journey of flavors, aromas, and culinary techniques.

By delving into the historical roots of ingredients, exploring cooking methods, and pushing the boundaries of culinary fusion, the program seeks to deepen the emotional bonds between people of both nations.

CMG launches China-France culinary competition program for food culture exchange

CMG launches China-France culinary competition program for food culture exchange

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠China's service outsourcing industry saw robust expansion in the first four months of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

Chinese firms inked services outsourcing contracts worth a total of some 781.43 billion yuan (about 110 billion U.S. dollars) in the four-month period, up 14.4 percent year on year, according to the ministry.

The executed contract value stood at 520.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.9 percent.

Of the total, the value of offshore service outsourcing contracts rose 8.6 percent year on year to 419.04 billion yuan.

Specifically, the value of offshore information technology outsourcing (ITO) services provided by Chinese companies jumped by 10.9 percent from a year earlier.

China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States and the European Union ranked the top three markets in terms of the fulfilled contract value of offshore outsourcing service, accounting for 54 percent of the total.

Chinese firms undertook nearly 80 billion yuan(about 14.93 billion U.S. dollars) worth of offshore service outsourcing contracts that were fulfilled with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, up 24 percent from a year ago, while the offshore outsourcing services for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries totaled 73.26 billion yuan, up 16.6 percent year on year.

Outsourcing refers to hiring an outside party to carry out services or produce goods typically undertaken by in-house employees. In China, service outsourcing is typically divided into three sectors: information technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing.

In the January-April period, the service outsourcing industry welcomed about 301,000 new hires, with 84.7 percent of these individuals holding a bachelor's degree or above. The sector had over 16.17 million employees at the end of April, among whom some 10.56 million were graduates with a bachelor's degree or higher.

China's service outsourcing industry reports robust expansion