NEW HAVEN, the United States -- Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday extended invitation to 100 teachers and students of Yale University to visit China.

Giving a speech at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Hu said, "To enhance mutual understanding between young people and educators of the two countries, I announce with pleasure here that we have decided to invite 100 Yale faculty members and students to visit China this summer."

"Young people represent the hope and future of the world," he said, noting they are full of vitality, new ideas and creativity.

Hu used an old Chinese saying, which goes "as in the Yangtze River where the waves behind drive on those before, so a new generation always excels the last one," to stimulate the young people.

The president then expressed his hope that "the young people in China and the United States will join hands and work to enhance friendship between the two people, and together with people of other countries, create a better world for all."

Hu also hailed Yale University and its president Richard Levin for their efforts to promote exchanges between the two peoples, saying "Yale is a forerunner in conducting China-U.S. educational exchanges and provides an important platform for cultural exchanges between our two countries."

"Over the past 20 years, Yale has accepted over 4,000 Chinese students and undertaken more than 80 cooperation projects in culture, science and technology, and education with China," Hu illustrated.

"Last summer, Yale sent the first group of students to China for internships and some among them became the first foreign interns to work with China's Palace Museum," he added.

Yale has a long tradition of links with China, and the first Chinese student, named Yung Wing, graduated from the university in 1854.

Currently, Yale has more than 60 cooperation programs with more than 45 educational institutions, research organizations and government departments in 16 Chinese cities.
Meanwhile, Chinese students constitute the largest group of foreign students in Yale, with the number exceeding 600 in 2004.

Yale University was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School in the home of Abraham Pierson, its first rector, in Killingworth, Connecticut. In 1887, it became Yale University.

The university is the last stop in President Hu's trip to the United States. Hu will conclude his four-day visit to the United States on Friday afternoon and embark on the next leg of his five-nation tour, taking him to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.