A group of high school students in Shanghai have sent Spring Festival greetings to the heads of state in 10 major countries around the world in an attempt to spread Chinese culture.

 

Li Xiang, a Grade 11 student at Shanghai Middle School (which houses a high school), said that she came up with the idea when her peers were discussing modern ways to celebrate traditional Chinese festivals.

 

Some students suggested people extend wishes to each other during the Spring Festival, the most important event in traditional Chinese culture.

 

"That immediately inspired us," Li said. "Teachers have been teaching us about protecting the country's culture relics - why not promoting our festival by sending our wishes to foreign leaders and their people as well?"

 

Li and three classmates soon picked the 10 target countries: France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and South Korea.

 

While the students were able to draft letters in English and Chinese, they didn't know where to send them and couldn't figure out a way to track down the addresses of foreign leaders.

 

At Shanghai Library, a librarian suggested they visit foreign consulates in town instead of sending the letters by mail. "We will be very excited if one or two foreign leaders can finally get our Spring Festival greetings. That at least suggests that our culture promotion efforts are paying off," Li said.

 

(Shanghai Daily February 10, 2007)