China on medium waves is interesting but challenging DX-target. Number of stations is big but for most European DXers language barrier is too high. With the help of Internet and the great sites like Asiawaves and Google Translator it is possible to make small cracks to the language barrier, but QSLing Chinese stations is still a demanding task.
With the help of a friend I managed to get my reception report form translated in Chinese (Mandarin) and in January I sent 12 reception reports to Chinese radio stations. With the letters I enclosed audio CDs of the program I had heard.
So far the reply percentage has been quite low, about 30%. But at least it's not zero. Personally I value these QSLs more than most of those one-liners I use to receive from North American AM stations. Why the reply percentage of Chinese stations is so low? My guess would be it’s partly because of Chinese bureaucracy. As one Chinese v/s put it in his e-mail: "Our broadcast station is part of city's propaganda department which in every city belongs to the Communist Party of China. We do not have a QSL card, that is to say that if we send you a letter, it must be reported to the competent authorities for approval and the result may fail. So just in this email I want tell you that what you hear is our radio and television news broadcast."
So far this year I have received verifications from the following stations:
Guangdong Zhujiang Jingji Guangbo, Guangzhou 1062. This Radio Guangdong's Pearl River Economic Channel broadcasts mostly in Cantonese, which makes is even more difficult to identify. Fortunately it uses "eFM"-slogan in English which is relatively easy to make out from otherwise Cantonese program . Guangdong PBS is the largest media network in Southern China. Network Media Director Ding Zhiwen sent me a PDF-letter in Chinese with information about Guangdong PBS’ several radio and TV channels.
Tianjin Jingji Guangbo, Tianjin 1071. Tianjin Economic Radio’s Vice Director verified my report with nice bilingual (Chinese/English) e-mail. He had listened my CD and told that the program I heard was a medical hotline service program called Jiànkang jiayóu zhàn.
Qiqihar Xinwen Guangbo, Qiqihar 1197. I heard Qiqihar PBS’ News Channel on 28th of February 2013 and it took only few hours to get e-mail reply from the station, after I sent Chinese e-mail to the address found on their website. V/s seemed to be familiar with the concept of DX-verification as he wrote nice full data QSL-letter with both in Chinese and English. Qiqihar is located in Heilongjiang province, North-East China.
