Youth urged to share China's stories

Foreign speakers at Generation Z forum discuss their thoughts, experiences in developing nation

Young people should think about China, experience China and present China's stories, Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said during opening remarks at the Global Generation Z Forum 2022, held on Monday at Tsinghua University.

Co-sponsored by China Daily and Tsinghua, the event echoed the government's report to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which was held in Beijing from Oct 16 to 22, which specifically included an assessment of today's youth.

"Young people of today are living in a remarkable time," it said. "They have an incomparably broad stage on which to display their full talents, and they have incomparably bright prospects."

At the forum, nine young guest speakers from China, Egypt, France, Georgia, India, Russia, South Africa and the United States shared their ideas on the report, their thoughts on China and the path ahead, and the responsibilities that their generation is shouldering.

Nik Gu, a Russian who is a student envoy for global communication at Tsinghua University, has been constantly thinking about China. He is particularly impressed by the thousand-year-old Chinese concept he er bu tong ("finding harmony in diversity") which he believes is deeply embedded in China's diplomatic policies, including the principles of peaceful coexistence and the national concept of "building a community with a shared future for mankind".

"It demonstrates China's political wisdom in building a new type of international relations, and fully demonstrates the global pattern of mutual cooperation, fair competition and peaceful development in state-to-state relations," Gu said in his speech.

Shamim Zakaria, an Indian journalist and commentator, shared his thoughts about experiencing China.

Zakaria has traveled extensively across the country, including to rural areas, which has allowed him to see with his own eyes the national accomplishments in poverty alleviation and social advancement, and gain a better understanding of the government's people-centered development philosophy.

"I was astounded by the efforts to promote balanced, coordinated and inclusive development. The extraordinary transformations that have occurred in people's lives are evident," he said in his speech.

Liu Dibo, a Chinese student at Tsinghua's School of Environment, shared his experience of presenting China's stories.

Liu worked as a volunteer at the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics in Beijing. Serving as an assistant to Francesco Ricci Bitti, president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, he informed Ricci Bitti how much China had changed since 2008, when the Summer Olympics were held in the capital, and taught him as much as he could about Chinese culture.

By bringing young people from different countries together to tell their stories about China, the forum was a demonstration of what Qiu Yong, secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee and chairman of Tsinghua University Council, said during opening remarks: "The youth represent hope and are the architects of the future. A better shared future depends on the friendships of young people continuing from generation to generation."

And these friendships can only be developed through communication and interaction.

"Any knowledge of each other can only be achieved through personal experience, through interaction among people," Dong Xia, head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, said in an interview after the forum.

"Young people around the world have to learn about each other, know about each other through their actions, through their hearts, through their shared experiences," Dong said.