CRI听力:Celebration of William Shakespeare to Reach Millions across China

For all English-speaking personnel in China, 2016 will be the year when they feel culturally taken care of. Many highly-rated and highly-anticipated theater works and films written by Shakespeare will come to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong throughout the year.

British Ambassador to China Barbara Woodward says, Shakespeare is one of the UK's greatest literary exports. 400 years after his death, his works continue to thrill audiences of all ages across the world.

"His works covers the human emotions and experiences, including love, including hate, including revenge, jealousy, loyalty, betrayal, greed, power, fate and tragedy. His works highlight our common humanity."

Stan Lai, one of the most acknowledged theater makers in the Chinese world, echoes Barbara Woodward's comments on Shakespeare. He recalls some of the most touching lines to him from Shakespeare's works in English easily, and says:

"The British Embassy is very proud that Shakespeare is from the UK. But I'm sorry, Shakespeare belongs to the world."

In a major celebration program called "Shakespeare Lives" initiated by British Council, some of Shakespeare's best-loved works including Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch will be put onto big screens in China. Acclaimed productions of Henry IV and Henry V will be staged by Royal Shakespeare Company. World-renowned actor Sir Ian McKellen will attend Shanghai International Film Festival.

What's more, various English-learning programs are about to be launched as well to commemorate the language master's contribution. Over 3,000 words and hundreds of idioms that we use now first appeared in Shakespeare's works. New technology is also used in this campaign. People will be able to "shake" their smart phones, then through social media apps they can find what character they look like in Shakespeare's works, to add the connection.

For CRI, I'm Liu Xiangwei.