Witnessing China's development with their own eyes
- By Corey Cooper
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China.org.cn, August 28, 2011
Seven days from now, Nina Montgomery, Rolanda Nelson, and 48 other American students will return to Beijing with completely different perspectives on China than when they arrived Friday.
![Chinese and American students participate in a flag bearing ceremony in Beijing to kick of the inaugural year of the China-US Youth RME Partnership on Aug. 27, 2011. [Corey Cooper/China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20110828/001ec94a1ee40fc3f9a907.jpg "Chinese and American students participate in a flag bearing ceremony in Beijing to kick of the inaugural year of the China-US Youth RME Partnership on Aug. 27, 2011. [Corey Cooper/China.org.cn]") |
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Chinese and American students participate in a flag bearing ceremony in Beijing to kick off the inaugural year of the China-US Youth RME Partnership on Aug. 27, 2011. [Corey Cooper/China.org.cn] |
The American delegates, mostly undergraduates from Ivy League schools, are the first participants in the China-US Youth RME Partnership, a new People-to-People exchange program which pairs American and Chinese university students. 50 Chinese students from universities throughout the country will host their American counterparts as they depart on ten distinct educational journeys throughout China.
At an opening ceremony and training session in Beijing on Friday, the 100 delegates split into groups of ten, with each group assigned to research economic, social, cultural, and environmental development issues in a specific Chinese province. This coming week, the groups will collectively cover nearly every region of the country, visiting Jiangsu, Sichuan, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Shanghai and Tianjin municipalities.
The Chinese teams for each province "lured" their American guests into joining their tour in vivid presentations at the Beijing opener. Each team promised an exciting cultural journey, amazing sights, fantastic food, and the chance to see the "real China" from an insider's perspective.
Besides the thrill of visiting some of China's most beloved sites like Henan's Shaolin Temple, Shaanxi's Terracotta warriors and Fujian's Gulangyu Island, Chinese students in each group organized a wide variety of educational exchanges for the American visitors. The Inner Mongolia research team, in addition to night's stay in a traditional yurt on the pristine Xilinguole Steppe, will participate in person-to-person exchange with local students at Inner Mongolia Agriculture University, and research sustainable urban planning in the city of Ordos. The Fujian team will tour a windmill farm near Fuzhou, get to try their luck on an assembly line in a textile factory, and visit a local financial exchange. The Sichuan group will witness the post-disaster reconstruction efforts following the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, as well as compare Chinese and American religious traditions by visiting Leshan's Giant Bhudda.
After they return to Beijing on Sept. 3, each group is required to present a report explaining new discoveries on their journey.
Montgomery, an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, said she came to China to see Jiangsu Province, the place where her grandparents worked as missionaries for over forty years. Interested in marketing, she also hopes to learn more about how China promotes its tourism industry.
Nelson, from Brown University, who will be visiting Guangdong, said she jumped at the chance to come to China and interact with Chinese students to discuss a variety of issues, especially China's education system and China's use of new media. "I'm also really interested in what questions they have for me, as a student," Nelson said.
Tan Hao, a Chinese university student studying engineering in Nanjing, spent the last two weeks ironing out the details of the Jiangsu tour itinerary with his teammates. In addition to visiting the province's important historical and cultural sites, the team's research will focus on Jiangsu's development of the alternative energy sector and tertiary industries.
Tan said he hopes students can witness Jiangsu's economic and cultural development firsthand, as well as see what people are really like in China. He also said he was curious to find out a number of things about America. "I'm most curious about learning more about the American education system, as well as American's lifestyles," he said. "Also, American culture, especially popular music and sports."
The China-US Youth RME Partnership is organized by the All-China Youth Federation, an umbrella organization for youth groups throughout the country. Co-organizers include the China Youth Daily newspaper, the China University Media Union, which coordinated Chinese student delegates, and the Ivy Council, which recruited American delegates. The insurance company Metlife is a key sponsor.
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