In July 2019, the Yellow Sea Wetlands, as part of the Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I), was inscribed on the World Heritage List. It became China’s 54th world heritage site, 14th world natural heritage site, the country’s first world natural heritage of the coastal wetland type, and Jiangsu Province’s first world natural heritage site. The Yellow Sea Wetlands not only boasts abundant biodiversity but also embodies the Chinese nation’s ecological wisdom of “harmony between humans and nature” and “following the laws of nature.” Therefore, strengthening the external publicity translation and international communication of the Yellow Sea Wetlands World Natural Heritage is of great practical significance for telling good stories of China’s ecological civilization and promoting the global dissemination of China’s wetland culture and wetland protection and governance experience.
Helping Promote the Global Dissemination of China’s Wetland Culture
The biodiversity and cultural uniqueness of the Yellow Sea Wetlands are important resources for spreading Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization internationally and telling compelling stories of ecological civilization to the world. Given the extremely important ecological and cultural value of the Yellow Sea Wetlands, external publicity translation is crucial for promoting this world natural heritage to the international community. As a unique natural and cultural heritage of China, the Yellow Sea Wetlands carries rich cultural connotations such as history, folk customs, and traditional knowledge. External publicity translation serves as a bridge to convert these cultural elements into internationally accepted languages. Through accurate and vivid translation, the world can understand the profoundness and extensiveness of China’s wetland culture—such as the traditional lifestyles of coexistence with wetlands among residents living around the wetlands and the unique wetland agricultural culture. This promotes the inheritance and dissemination of Chinese culture embodied in biodiversity and ecological civilization construction globally, strengthens national cultural identity and pride, and enriches the diversity of world cultures.
Helping Strengthen the Construction of China’s External Publicity Discourse System on Ecological Civilization
In recent years, the protection and governance of the Yellow Sea Wetlands have become important materials for showcasing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the world, injecting a steady stream of vitality into building a socialist ecological civilization discourse system with Chinese characteristics, style, and ethos. However, these achievements need to be transformed into a discourse system understandable and acceptable to the international community through effective external publicity translation and international communication methods. The Yellow Sea Wetlands World Natural Heritage provides unique and vivid materials for telling good stories of China’s ecological civilization. Its external publicity translation is not only a matter of language conversion and story-telling but also an important component of strengthening the construction of China’s external publicity discourse system on ecological civilization. From the formation and evolution of the wetlands to their current protection and governance, from the reproduction and habitation of species to the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, these rich contents are presented to international audiences through external publicity translation. This makes Chinese stories more three-dimensional and diverse, demonstrating China’s sense of responsibility and humanistic feelings in the field of ecological protection, meeting the international community’s expectation for true, comprehensive, and interesting stories of China’s ecological civilization, and enhancing the global praise and recognition of China’s ecological civilization construction practices.
Helping Promote International Cooperation in Global Coastal Wetland Protection and Governance
Accurate external publicity translation and in-depth international communication can break down language and cultural barriers, facilitating professional exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries in fields such as wetland protection, scientific research and monitoring, and ecotourism development. With the globalization of ecological issues, international ecological cooperation has become increasingly frequent. The external publicity translation of the Yellow Sea Wetlands World Natural Heritage lays the foundation for exchanges between China and other countries in wetland protection, ecological research, and other fields. Accurate translation of professional terminology and effective information dissemination enable international experts and organizations to better understand the characteristics of the Yellow Sea Wetlands’ ecosystem, the status of its biodiversity, as well as China’s technologies and experiences in wetland ecological protection. This promotes international technological sharing, scientific research cooperation, and financial support to jointly address global ecological challenges, thereby effectively advancing the international implementation of China’s ecological strategy.
(Ye Lei is the Executive Director of the Yancheng Local Culture International Communication Research Center; Shen Chunjun is a student from the School of Foreign Languages, Yancheng Institute of Technology; Wang Yinquan is a professor from the School of Foreign Languages, Nanjing Agricultural University. This article was published in Xinhua Daily on June 10, 2025.)
