Youth serve as best ambassadors between China, U.S.
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David Marzban, a student at Pepperdine University from California, has been studying French for six years. When everybody thought he would go to France for further study, he chose to go to China -- to learn something different.
"My Chinese is not so good, but it will be better in the future. I'm still working hard on it," Marzban said in Chinese. Having studied in China at Fudan University for a year, he has learned much about the language and culture, including a Chinese sense of modesty.
At an event promoting student exchange programs to China, hosted by Howard University in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Marzban was invited to speak about his experience two years ago as an exchange student at Fudan University to a group of American students.
"I think we are a generation that tomorrow are going to be the next leaders," Marzban told Xinhua, "And it's very important for us to meet with each other at an early age and develop deep bonds, so that we have more mutual understanding when we get older and are in the seat of leadership."
Marzban believed understanding the Chinese language and culture would be a valuable asset for next generation leaders, wherever they come from.
"I know that many of my peers are going to high places. They are going to do great things, and their experiences in China are going to help them understand and communicate more effectively," he said.
His view was echoed at the White House on the same day by the two countries' top leaders.
On his second state visit to the United States, Chinese President Hu Jintao was quoted as saying at a joint press conference with U.S. President Barack Obama that "it is extremely important to increase the exchanges between the young people in our two countries."
"I also hope that they in the future can serve as ambassadors of goodwill for our two countries, and they can make even more positive contribution to the development of a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit," Hu said.
This view was shared by President Obama, who announced the "100,000 Strong Initiative" during his 2009 visit to China, a program aiming to increase and diversify the number of American students studying in China by making study abroad more affordable.
"Cooperation must go beyond our government," Obama said at a Shanghai town hall meeting with Chinese students during that visit. "These bridges must be built by young men and women just like you and your counterparts in America ... I'm absolutely confident that America has no better ambassadors to offer than our young people."
The latest annual report on international students in the United States and U.S. students studying abroad, titled "Open Doors 2010," released by the Institute of International Education, showed increasing numbers of student exchange between China and the United States.
In the academic year 2008-09, the latest for which data is available, more than 13,600 U.S. students studied in China, up 4 percent from last year. It has made China the fifth most popular study abroad destination for American students.
Meanwhile, the number of Chinese students in the United States increased a staggering 30 percent for the academic year 2009-10 to a total of almost 128,000, leapfrogging India to claim the top spot.
"We believe that the friendship between America and China is the most important relationship in the world and the future of the world depends on that relationship. So we really emphasize that," John Flower, director of Chinese Studies Program and Global Initiatives at Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C., told Xinhua at the Howard event.
The school started in 1985 the Chinese Studies Program, what Flower called a signature program of the school. It works in collaboration with two sister schools in China, the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, and the High School Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai.
At present, one student from each of the sister schools comes to Sidwell each year, said Flower. The students stay with Sidwell families, take a range of courses, and participate in the broader life of the school.
"We have to have more collaborations between young people in China and America, and that's my whole goal, where young Americans and young Chinese work together to face the problems in the future. That's the most important thing in the world," he said.
Two of President Obama's children attend Sidwell, said Flower, and one of them is learning Chinese now in the fourth grade.
"We hope they (Obama's children) will learn about China and the importance of the friendship between our two countries," he said.
Zhao Yifei, a Chinese student from the High School Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, is on exchange to Sidwell this academic year. He has found studying in the United States very different from what he has grown accustomed to in China.
"I have to choose the courses all by myself, which is not the case in China, and the interactions between teachers and students are also different from that in China," he said at the event. "Those differences let me get to know something new and get better understanding of how American students think and learn."
The work to strengthen ties between the United States and China "does not just happen at the White House or within the walls of the U.N. It is not just about relationships between our governments and our presidents," U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama said at the Howard gathering.
"It's also about relationships between our people -- between our business leaders, and our scientists, our educators, and particularly between our young people," she said.
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