Outgoing Chinese ambassador to Germany Shi Mingde asked German corporations to help establish a new media outlet that would favorably represent Beijing to the German people. The “China Reporter” project, which never came to fruition, was conceptualized by Mr. Shi and two German journalists who he could trust “to permanently influence the image of China in Germany and shape it more objectively”, as explained in the letter. The German reporters, Georg Blume of Die Zeit and Spiegel, and Wolfgang Hirn of Manager Magazine, had “decades of experience in China and in the best German media”, again according to the letter. Mr. Shi estimated that the project would cost an annual budget of 250,000 euros, and he wrote to major German companies belonging to the DAX stock index asking for financial support. While the project was not successful, German news site Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that the letter gives insight into Beijing’s efforts to influence public opinion in Germany.