More than six decades after the United States journalist Edgar Snow returned to China to document a nation in transformation, a new generation of foreign visitors is walking in his footsteps — and reaching the same conclusion he did: understanding China requires seeing it with one's own eyes.

That consensus ran through Saturday's thematic forum titled "Telling Story Well: From Empathetic Communication to Cultural Identity", held in Zhengzhou, Henan province, as part of the 2026 China Internet Media Forum.

More than 200 participants from home and abroad — content creators, scholars, business figures, and descendants of Snow himself — gathered to share stories of personal immersion in Chinese culture, each echoing the belief that authentic connection cannot be achieved through headlines or abstract narratives alone.

Snow, whose 1937 book Red Star Over China introduced generations of Western readers to the Chinese revolution, later traveled to Henan province in 1960, capturing a "newly born" People's Republic of China in his writings.

His journey formed the historical anchor for this week's gathering, which featured a field tour retracing his path through Zhengzhou and Luoyang.