Xi Jinping Marks 70 Years of China’s ‘Little Trumpet’ Children’s Programme

Chinese President Xi Jinping has marked the 70th anniversary of Xiaolaba (“Little Trumpet”), China Media Group’s national children’s radio programme, with a congratulatory letter urging stronger efforts to educate and shape the country’s youngest generation.

In the letter sent Friday, Xi praised the programme for “telling good stories to children” over seven decades and for accompanying generations of young listeners as they grew up. Launched on Sept. 4, 1956, Xiaolaba was the first radio programme in the People’s Republic of China dedicated to preschool children.

Xi called on the programme’s team and other children’s culture professionals to “foster virtue through education,” keep pace with the times, and create more popular works that promote what he described as the true, the good and the beautiful. The programme has since expanded from radio into television, new media and in-school broadcasting.

What the Anniversary Letter Signals for Children’s Media

Xi’s Letter and the State’s Focus on Early Ideological Education

The anniversary message is primarily a political and educational signal rather than a business event. By addressing children’s culture professionals directly, Xi is reinforcing the role of state media in shaping values from preschool age. The letter’s emphasis on “sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and labor skills” aligns with the Communist Party’s long-standing education policy goal of producing well-rounded citizens committed to the socialist cause.

For China Media Group and other producers of children’s content, the letter provides public endorsement but also sets a clear expectation: programming should serve ideological and moral education as well as entertainment. The reference to “rich cultural resources” suggests continued encouragement to draw on traditional Chinese culture while adapting to digital and multimedia formats.

There is no announced funding, regulatory change or institutional reform attached to the message. Its significance lies in the high-level political attention given to children’s media and in the guidance it offers to programme makers and education authorities.