Xi Congratulates Children's Radio Show 'Xiao La Ba' on 70th Anniversary

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter marking the 70th anniversary of China Media Group’s flagship children’s radio programme 'Xiao La Ba' ('Little Trumpet'), state media reported on September 4. Xi commended the show for seven decades of storytelling and instructed children’s cultural workers to align their creations with the core task of fostering virtue and nurturing well-rounded socialist successors. Launched in 1956 as New China's first preschool radio show, the programme has evolved from conventional airwaves into a multimedia brand spanning television, digital outlets, and campus broadcasting.

A direct congratulatory message from China's top leadership to a specific children's radio programme underscores the high priority Beijing places on ideological and moral formation during early childhood. The letter establishes authoritative guidance for domestic cultural creators, signaling that youth-oriented literature, arts, and broadcasting must maintain an explicit pedagogical focus aimed at cultivating national and civic values.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter marking the 70th anniversary of "Xiao La Ba" ("Little Trumpet"), a long-running children's radio programme produced by state broadcaster China Media Group (CMG), state media reported on September 4. In his letter, Xi commended the programme for maintaining its commitment over the past seven decades to "telling good stories to children" and accompanying successive generations of Chinese youth as they grew up, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Standing at a new starting point, Xi called on the programme's staff and children's cultural and artistic workers nationwide to carry out the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, stay attuned to national development, and cultivate the cultural landscape for minors. Xi instructed creators to produce work with dedication and care, creating more high-quality offerings that spread "truth, goodness, and beauty" while remaining engaging and beloved by children. Such efforts, Xi noted, should contribute to cultivating socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and in practical work ethics. First broadcast on September 4, 1956, "Xiao La Ba" was the first radio programme in the People's Republic of China designed specifically for preschool children. Over several decades, the programme served as a widely recognized cultural fixture for generations of Chinese listeners, broadcast over public loudspeakers and domestic radios. According to state media reports, the programme has transformed in recent years from a conventional radio show into an integrated media brand. It now encompasses television broadcasts, new media streaming platforms, and specialized campus radio installations, reflecting broader efforts by state broadcasters to maintain relevance across modern digital distribution channels.