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by Hui Zhang

JD.com won both individual and group awards in a short video competition, “100 Reasons to Love Beijing”, hosted by the Beijing municipal government, at an award ceremony held in Beijing’s Forbidden City Museum on May 14.

Representatives from JD.com, China Radio International, Beijing International Studies University, Pubilicity Department of Beijing’s Dongcheng District, Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries rewarded as “Excellent Organizations”

JDer Ella Kidron’s video “Discovering Beijing’s Limitless Possibilities” and colleague Kelly Dawson’s video “Unexpected Beijing” won the Grand Prize and Third Prize at the competition, respectively. Kidron’s video was also rewarded  the only most innovative video award among all over 1000 entries. JD.com was rewarded as one of the “Excellent Organizations” attending the competition. Mr. Jiang Jianguo, minister of the State Information office, presented the Grand Prize Award to Kidron. Mr. Wang Xudong, curator of the Palace Museum who is a veteran scholar of Dunhuang Studies, also attended the event.

Ella Kidron on stage to receiving “Grand Award” 

The short video competition together with an essay contest with the theme of “100 Reasons to Love Beijing” has attracted over 1,000 foreign participants living in Beijing from about 100 countries. More than 100 short videos  were finally selected to be rewarded at the ceremony. The event was organized to give foreigners the opportunity to share their experiences of living in Beijing, and to express their feelings towards the city from their unique perspectives with different cultural backgrounds.

Performers on stage

Kidron fell in love with Beijing on her runs around the sprawling capitol city. As a native New Yorker and former athlete, her life can be hectic, and running has been a constant companion.

Ella Kidron

“My Beijing story and my love of athletics are deeply intertwined. When making this video, it was important to tell the story through sport, both in terms of what I have discovered and who I have met along the way. Forging friendships has given me a sense of belonging in a city over 10,000 km from where I grew up,” said Kidron.

Ella Kidron’s video “Discovering Beijing’s Limitless Possibilities”

Dawson’s life in Beijing has always been about the “nooks and crannies” that one discovers throughout the city. As the protagonist of this story, it is emblematic of one of her favorite hobbies, using her own lens to capture the unexpected throughout Beijing.

Kelly Dawson Receiving “Third Prize” on stage

“What I love most about Beijing is that it surprises me all the time. I’ve lived here for more than 6 years, and I still feel that it’s a place where I see things every day that I don’t see every day,” said Dawson. “I wanted to make this video for the competition as a kind of love letter to the city that I’ve called home these past years.”

In addition to Kidron and Dawson’s videos, JD.com also submitted 28 other videos with various themes to the competition. Among the 30 works submitted by JD, four of them were shortlisted for the 100 Outstanding Works in the competition.

Group photo

The organizing committee will translate the selected 100 videos into multiple languages, such as Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish and Russian, and will promote the videos through various of social media platform including You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, Ticktok, and etc.

 

(Banner photo: from left to right are Yuchuan Wang, Ella Kidron, Kelly Dawson, Hui Zhang responsible for JD’s International Corporate Affairs holding four prizes on April 15)

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

For JDer Kelly Dawson, life in Beijing has always been about the “nooks and crannies” that one discovers throughout the city. As a former journalist with many bylines under her belt, Dawson is no stranger to exploration and revels in the ability of Beijing to surprise her. “It’s a place that not only challenges me but also inspires me,” she said in an interview at JD headquarters in Beijing.

Her video, “Unexpected Beijing”, takes viewers on a journey of Beijing’s Hutongs, which have become home to Dawson in her over six years in the city. The video is part of a video competition called “100 Reasons to Love Beijing”, hosted by the Beijing municipal government. Dawson accepted a third place award for the video at a ceremony in Beijing’s Forbidden City Museum on May 14. Larry Lee, vice president of Global Corporate Affairs at JD.com and Cheng Jigong a vice president at Kuaishou adminstered the awards.

“I’m an expat in the city I call home,” explains Dawson in the video. “In that way, maybe it’s easy to keep looking, to keep collecting the reasons I stay,” she continues as the camera pans to her taking photos in the Hutongs.

Though Dawson is the protagonist of this story, it is emblematic of one of her favorite hobbies, using her own lens to capture the unexpected throughout Beijing. “Exploring the different parts of Beijing and the little nooks and crannies that you stumble across represents the way that I have discovered and fallen in love with Beijing over the course of my time here,” she said.

One of Dawson’s latest discoveries has taken her to Yizhuang, a rapidly developing area in the southeast of Beijing, and home to JD.com’s headquarters. In the video, she is seen walking with the JD headquarters building in the background before swiping her employee card as she enters the building. It’s a nod to another adventure she has undertaken since joining the company last year. Dawson has fully embraced the experience and the culture of the place, appreciating the camaraderie she has with colleagues. She welcomes the challenges offered by the new experience. “Since joining JD, I’ve learned so much and being in this environment has been both exciting and inspiring,” she said. “I’m still learning and exploring, and this has also become a major part of my experience here in Beijing.”

In the final shots of the video, Dawson is seen against a backdrop of traditional Chinese architecture as she explains: “What I love most about Beijing is that what you grow to love about it won’t be obvious right away. It’s up to you to figure out what that might be.”

 

(ella@jd.com)