State radio broadcasts news in the language of hope.

(From South China Morning Post)

Byline: Harry Doran in Beijing

The mainland propaganda machine goes to extraordinary lengths to present the official spin on developments, including broadcasting daily news bulletins around the world in the obscure language of Esperanto.

For 39 years, China Radio International has presented a 30-minute daily news and current affairs programme in the language that was devised to help foster harmony and world peace.

Yu Jianchao, deputy-director of the Esperanto shortwave service, said the department received about 2,000 letters a year from listeners around the globe. "They are largely interested in Chinese culture, economy and current affairs, especially the ongoing political and economic reform," she said.

Esperanto was created by Ludwig Zamenhof, a Polish physician, in 1887. He was a Jew living in a hostile environment in Poland that was home to four main ethnic groups: Russians, Jews, Poles and Germans, each speaking their own language.

Dr Zamenhof proposed Esperanto as a second language that would allow people who spoke different native languages to communicate, yet at the same time retain their own languages and cultural identities.