HEFEI, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 26 June 2026 - On June 23, the realist drama Zhong Mo Yuan premiered in the prime-time slot on mainstream television in China. Centered on Xuan paper-making techniques, an element of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage, the series uses this centuries-old craft as a narrative thread, presenting its continuity and renewal in contemporary life through a visual storytelling approach.
The Four Treasures of the Study—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—are an essential part of China's traditional writing culture. Among them, Xuan paper serves as a key material medium, long used in calligraphy and Chinese painting. Unlike the static presentation typical of traditional craft-themed works, this drama transforms Xuan paper from a "craft object" into a "narrative vehicle," allowing complex processes such as papermaking, sheet lifting, drying, and cutting to naturally unfold within character-driven stories and everyday settings. In doing so, audiences are able to perceive the tangible warmth and contemporary expression of an intangible cultural heritage practice as the plot progresses.
From a Single Sheet of Paper, a Broader Way of Eastern Living Comes Into View
Xuan paper is not merely a material; it represents a centuries-old Eastern way of writing and cultural expression. Starting from this point, the series extends its perspective into a broader cultural context: the relationship between people and craftsmanship, the dialogue between tradition and modernity, and the evolving pathways through which manual skills persist within today's industrial landscape.
In its narrative approach, the work brings together interactions between a younger generation and master artisans, making "inheritance" no longer an abstract concept, but a series of real choices and actions. In this way, intangible cultural heritage enters contemporary discourse in a more immersive and relatable form.
Bringing Intangible Cultural Heritage to the World Is Not Only About the Work Itself
In recent years, Chinese intangible cultural heritage represented by Xuan paper has been increasingly entering the global field of vision through multiple channels.
On one hand, through state-level media and international communication platforms, content related to intangible cultural heritage continues to be integrated into multilingual dissemination systems, building broader baseline awareness. On the other hand, with the development of streaming media and digital platforms, more and more film and television works rooted in traditional Chinese culture are reaching overseas audiences in lighter, more visually driven formats.
From Visual Narrative to Lived Experience: Intangible Cultural Heritage Is Forming New Communication Pathways
The significance of Zhong Mo Yuan lies not only in telling a story about Xuan paper, but also in its alignment with current trends in intangible cultural heritage communication: culture is no longer simply displayed—it is experienced, understood, and re-created.
Alongside the dissemination and circulation of related visual content, Jing County in Anhui Province, a key origin of Xuan paper culture, has gradually entered the view of international cultural and artistic audiences. Relying on its well-preserved natural ecological environment, traditional handmade papermaking system, and continuously living cultural transmission, the region has been steadily improving a hybrid spatial structure that integrates heritage exhibition, craft experience, and cultural participation. This allows traditional craftsmanship to sustain its vitality through contemporary expression. When visual narratives connect with real-world sites and cultural spaces, intangible cultural heritage is no longer confined to museum-style presentation, but increasingly becomes a cultural resource that can enter everyday life and international exchange contexts.
Conclusion: A World Expressed Through a Single Sheet of Paper
Starting from a single sheet of Xuan paper, traditional Chinese craftsmanship is being seen, understood, and gradually integrated into a broader global cultural communication system in a more contemporary form.
Within this context, Zhong Mo Yuan offers a more expressive visual approach to intangible cultural heritage, allowing the world to perceive the finer layers and textures of Chinese culture through the story of a single sheet of paper.
Hashtag: #Anhui
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 26 June 2026 - FWD Insurance ("FWD") has achieved spectacular success at the Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition "Financial Institutions 2026" awards. In addition to winning the prestigious "Insurance Company of the Year" award for the third time, FWD stood out among numerous insurance institutions to clinch the newly introduced "Top Insurance Company of the Year" award in the category, which honours the insurer that demonstrates the most comprehensive and outstanding performance across product innovation, digital technology, customer service, multi-channel distribution, talent development, and integrated marketing. FWD was also named the most awarded insurer for the ninth straight year, securing a total of 22 accolades, including 16 Excellence Awards and six Outstanding Awards (see appendix), which serves as a powerful testament to FWD's strengths across all business areas.
FWD Insurance has been crowned "Top Insurance Company of the Year", the industry's highest honour, while maintained its position as the most awarded insurer at the Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition "Financial Institutions" for nine consecutive years.
Building on its exceptional performance and industry recognition, FWD Hong Kong continues to solidify its position as a top five pan-Asian insurer by business scale in Hong Kong¹. In 2025, FWD's growth in both new business first year premium and new business annual premium equivalent outperformed the market average. This not only demonstrates FWD's robust market leadership but also validates the success of FWD's strategy in deepening its local and offshore business including mainland Chinese visitors, as well as capturing opportunities in the high-net-worth (HNW) market.
First-ever "Top Insurance Company of the Year" award in the insurance sector, elevating market leadership
Ken Lau, Managing Director of Greater China and Hong Kong Chief Executive Officer, FWD, said, "We are deeply honoured to be recognised as the most awarded insurer in the Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition 'Financial Institutions' for the ninth consecutive year. Winning the newly introduced 'Top Insurance Company of the Year' award is particularly meaningful to us. Over the past year, FWD has celebrated several key milestones in Hong Kong, including the successful listing of FWD Group on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the grand opening of FWD Hong Kong's new headquarters, 'FWD Tower'. These milestones fully demonstrate our long-term commitment to deepening our business footprint in Hong Kong."
He added, "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our customers for their unwavering support over the years; their trust is our greatest motivation. These accolades also belong to every one of our colleagues, agency teams, and partners. Their relentless efforts in product and service innovation, digital technology, and talent development are the very foundation of FWD's recognition. We will continue changing the way people feel about insurance by putting customers at the heart of everything we do."
Stellar performance in health protection with award-winning medical products
FWD is committed to providing customers with premium medical protection and quality services, winning "Medical Care" Award for nine consecutive years and "Health & Protection (Product)" Award for the third straight year. This time, leveraging three flagship medical products—"vBooster Medical Plan," "vPrime Signature Medical Plan,"2 and "One&All Medical Insurance Plan"—FWD was named the winner in both categories again, affirming FWD's leading position in health protection products.
Among these, "vBooster Medical Plan" and "vPrime Signature Medical Plan" continued their success in the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) category by securing the "Voluntary Health Insurance" Award for the sixth time, proving that FWD's VHIS products remain highly popular among customers for their good value and quality value-added services. Designed to offer flexible and affordable medical protection to all, the "One&All Medical Insurance Plan" won the "Product Innovation" Excellence Award for its innovative product design that integrates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies.
Furthermore, "vPrime Signature Medical Plan," in combination with "FWD Care," won the "High Net Worth Service" Excellence Award, a category which FWD has won for the eighth straight year. "FWD Care" also clinched the "Service Innovation" Excellence Award for the third time, providing customers with value-added services beyond financial support, covering prevention and healthcare, treatment and recovery. FWD extended its winning streak with the "Client Service" and "GBA Macau Client Service" Excellence Awards, demonstrating recognition for its top-tier customer service.
Spearheading the HNW segment with innovative wealth management solutions
FWD has pioneered indexed universal life (IUL) insurance plan, leading new trends in the HNW wealth management landscape. Winning the "Life Insurance" Excellence Award, "Imperial Fortune (HK) Insurance Plan" is the first IUL insurance product in Hong Kong3 to offer uncapped crediting interest rate coupled with guaranteed stable returns. Meanwhile, "Imperial Wealth (HK) Insurance Plan" secured the "Life & Wealth Management Insurance" Outstanding Award, further cementing FWD's competitive edge in the HNW segment.
With 22 awards spanning product innovation, customer service, digital experience and talent training, FWD Insurance maintained its position as the most awarded insurer at the Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition "Financial Institutions" for nine consecutive years.
Multi-channel distribution success driven by focus on agency and digital distribution
FWD is dedicated to providing continuous and diversified training for its tied agency force, partnering with world-class academic institutions such as INSEAD, Tsinghua University, and Fudan University through FWD Business Academy to nurture the next generation of industry leaders. This year, FWD continues previous success of winning the "Training Academy of the Year" and the "Training and Development Achievement (Agency Force)" Awards. FWD also took home Outstanding Awards in the "District Achievement of the Year (Agency Force)" and the newly added "Emerging District (Agency Force)" categories, highlighting FWD's long-term commitment to the professional development of its agents.
On the other hand, the FWD online insurance platform, adhering to its human-centric design philosophy, combines data-driven insights and innovative technology to address customer pain points, reshaping the entire insurance experience from product exploration and application to claims. The platform won the "Online Platform" Award for the third consecutive year, validating FWD's undisputed edge in the digital distribution segment.
Digital innovation setting new standards for customer experience
FWD continues to enhance its digital and customer experiences through its "customer-led and tech-enabled" approach. The FWD MAX lifestyle experience platform has been repositioned as an "Intelligent Life Companion," seamlessly integrating into users' daily lives by gathering concerts, mega events, healthy living, and daily rewards in one platform. Thanks to its outstanding user experience and customer engagement, FWD MAX secured both the "Mobile App Usability" Excellence Award and the "Customer Engagement" Outstanding Award.
At the same time, FWD leverages an integrated analytics data hub to drive decision-making, optimising agency performance and customer reach, which earned FWD the Outstanding Award in the newly introduced "Data Analytics" category. FWD's AI-powered claims management system enables simplified claims to be completed in as fast as 35 seconds with an aggregate successful claims rate of 95%4, winning the "Claims Management" Excellence Award.
FWD also fully demonstrated its robust branding strength in digital marketing. "vPrime Medical Plan" and "One&All Medical Insurance Plan" respectively won the "Digital Marketing (Product / Service)" Award (fifth win) and "Integrated Marketing (Branding Promotion)" Award (fourth win).
Appendix: List of awards won by FWD at the Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition "Financial Institutions 2026"
| Category | Winner | Award |
| HK Insurance Sector - Insurance Company of the Year - Winner for three consecutive years - First-ever "Top Insurance Company of the Year" Award | FWD Hong Kong | Top Insurance Company of the Year |
| HK Insurance Sector – Medical Care - Nine consecutive wins | vBooster Medical Plan + vPrime Signature Medical Plan + One&All Medical Insurance Plan | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector – High Net Worth Service - Eight consecutive wins | vPrime Signature Medical Plan + FWD Care | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Digital Marketing (Product / Service) - Five consecutive wins | vPrime Medical Plan | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Mobile App Usability - Four consecutive wins | FWD MAX | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Integrated Marketing (Branding Promotion) - Four consecutive wins | One&All Medical Insurance Plan | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Training and Development Achievement (Agency Force) - Four consecutive wins | FWD Hong Kong | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Training Academy of the Year - Four consecutive wins | FWD Hong Kong | Excellence |
| GBA Macau Insurance Sector - GBA Macau Client Service - Three consecutive wins | FWD Macau | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Health & Protection (Product) - Three consecutive wins | vBooster Medical Plan + vPrime Signature Medical Plan + One&All Medical Insurance Plan | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector – Service Innovation - Three consecutive wins | FWD Care | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Online Platform - Three consecutive wins | FWD Online Insurance Platform | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Client Service - Three consecutive wins | FWD Hong Kong | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Life Insurance | Imperial Fortune (HK) Insurance Plan | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Product Innovation | One&All Medical Insurance Plan | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Claims Management | FWD Hong Kong | Excellence |
| HK Insurance Sector - Voluntary Health Insurance - Six consecutive wins | vBooster Medical Plan + vPrime Signature Medical Plan | Outstanding |
| HK Insurance Sector - District Achievement of the Year (Agency Force) - Four consecutive wins | Philip Lo, Region Director | Outstanding |
| HK Insurance Sector - Life & Wealth Management Insurance - Two consecutive wins | Imperial Wealth (HK) Insurance Plan | Outstanding |
| HK Insurance Sector - Emerging District (Agency Force) | Liu Lai Ting, Senior District Director | Outstanding |
| HK Insurance Sector - Customer Engagement | FWD MAX | Outstanding |
| HK Insurance Sector - Data Analytics | Integrated Analytics Data Hub | Outstanding |
- Winner for three consecutive years
- First-ever "Top Insurance Company of the Year" Award
- Nine consecutive wins
- Eight consecutive wins
- Five consecutive wins
- Four consecutive wins
- Four consecutive wins
- Four consecutive wins
- Four consecutive wins
- Three consecutive wins
- Three consecutive wins
- Three consecutive wins
- Three consecutive wins
- Three consecutive wins
- Six consecutive wins
- Four consecutive wins
- Two consecutive wins
Note: "consecutive wins" refers to receiving awards in the respective award category multiple years in a row.
1. Based on FWD's provisional statistics of Hong Kong long-term insurance business from January to December 2025 and market information, FWD ranks among the top five pan-Asian insurance companies in Hong Kong in terms of new business first-year premium and number of new policies. Calculations include individual and group businesses. Pan-Asian insurance companies refer to multinational insurance companies that currently have a substantial operating base in Asian markets and adopt multi-channel distribution.
2. vBooster Medical Plan, vPrime Medical Plan and vPrime Signature Medical Plan are Flexi Plans certified by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (Certification number is F00069, F00045 and F00070 respectively) and are underwritten by FWD Life Insurance Company (Bermuda) Limited (incorporated in Bermuda with limited liability) (VHIS provider registration number is 00036).
3. Based on a comparison of indexed universal life insurance products between FWD and major insurance companies in Hong Kong as of July 2025.
4. Only counting cases received and settled within the year of 2025.
Hashtag: #FWDHongKong
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About FWD Hong Kong
FWD Hong Kong is part of the FWD Group (1828.HK), a pan-Asian life and health insurance business that serves approximately 40 million customers across 10 markets, including BRI Life in Indonesia. FWD Hong Kong is firmly positioned as a top five pan-Asian insurer by business scale in Hong Kong*.
FWD Hong Kong has been assigned strong financial ratings by international agencies. It offers life and medical insurance, employee benefits, and financial planning.
FWD's customer-led and tech-enabled approach aims to deliver innovative propositions, easy-to-understand products and a simpler insurance experience. Established in 2013, the company operates in some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world with a vision of changing the way people feel about insurance. FWD Group is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 1828.
For more information about FWD Hong Kong, please visit www.fwd.com.hk.
*According to Provisional Statistics on Hong Kong Long Term Insurance Business - January to December 2025, Insurance Authority of Hong Kong, as well as FWD's own assessment based on market information, FWD ranks among the top five pan-Asian insurers in Hong Kong in both new business first year premium and new business case count rankings. Calculated based on individual and group businesses. Pan-Asian insurers refer to multinational insurers currently having a well-established operation in the Asian market with multiple distribution channels.
** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
