(100 great changes) Guangming Cinema: Audio descriptions bring cinema alive to the visually impaired

Special: 20th CPC National Congress

(ECNS) --"Perceiving colors through sound and art through listening— Welcome to Guangming Cinema. I’m your narrator for today, Cai Yu, a PhD candidate from Communication University of China (CUC). I’m joined by some CUC students."

This special sound clip was launched into the space with the carrier rocket Long March-8 Y2. Voices from the Guangming Cinema were sent to every corner of the universe for the first time. Such movie openings may appear strange, but to the visually-impaired, this is a key that opens doors to the world of movies.

Statistics show that there are more than 17 million visually-impaired Chinese. This gave birth to a public welfare project called Guangming Cinema in 2017. More than 500 university faculty and student volunteers participated in the project, interjected their narrations between dialogues and sounds to complete accessible movies.

"Gao Yuan excitedly grabbed a piece of newspaper, reading the news of the successful explosion of China's first atom bomb, tears in eyes."

Guangming Cinema boasts an annual production capacity of 104 accessible movies, which means there are on average up to two movies available weekly for the visually-impaired. On September, 2022, Guangming Cinema’s on-demand public welfare module was launched on cable TV nationwide, making accessible movies available at home.

"This is a major event for the Party and the country to promote the causes of the visually-impaired, along with cultural and human rights. It is good for barrier-free news communication, and also a practical effort to serve more than 17 million visually-impaired across the country."

At one of the offline screening events, we met Sun Minghan, a student attending a school for the visually-impaired. Having benefited from Guangming Cinema, Sun has walked into the recording studio many timesto share her knowledge and take on the Cinema. 

"Hello everyone, my name is Sun Minghan."

"For the visually-impaired, going to cinemas to enjoy movies is not only an important way to get involved in social activities but also an invaluable access to equal cultural rights like everyone else."

"In the future, Guangming Cinema volunteers will continue to focus on accessible movie production and promotion, empowering China’s ambition to develop the accessible movie niche as well as its strong socialist culture."