New York Journal: Exchanges to continue

The tragic loss of two young lives in the weekend crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in San Francisco was felt acutely in the teenage victims' home city in Zhejiang province.

Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyuan were among 70 students and teachers from Zhejiang and Shanxi provinces heading to summer camps and other pre-college exchange programs in the United States.

Many Chinese parents believe summer camps give their children an opportunity to interact with US culture and prepare them for possible study later at a college or university there.

The large number of students on the trip reflects the recent increasing popularity of student exchanges between the two countries.

According to the Institute of International Education in New York, 194,000 Chinese were studying on US campuses during the 2011-12 academic year. The record number was 23 percent higher than the previous year and accounted for a quarter of all international higher-education students enrolled in the US.

More students from the US are also coming to China. President Barack Obama announced during a trip to China in November 2009 that the US had a goal of sending 100,000 Americans to study in China by 2014.

During a visit to Washington two years ago, State Councilor Liu Yandong, now a vice-premier, announced 10,000 Chinese government scholarships for American students.

Besides the summer influx of student tourists, a growing number of Chinese adults are spending some of their new wealth on travel to the US.

Chinese tourists spent $9.2 billion in the US last year, up 19 percent from 2011, the US Commerce Department's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reported in May.

Nearly 2 million Chinese visitors are expected to land in the US this year, according to the US Travel Association. This still represents a relatively small slice of China's outbound tourism market, which the central government predicts will hit 200 million travelers by 2020.

Chinese tourists' spending, among the highest per capita of any group of foreign tourists in the US, supported 53,000 American jobs.

This week's fifth US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington will address a host of bilateral issues at high government levels. Later this summer, a China-US Consultation on People-to-People Exchange will aim to facilitate grass-roots exchanges in culture, education and sports.

Two weeks ago, a group of Chinese artists displayed 40 fan paintings at Washington's Meridian International Center to showcase a unique art form dating back more than 1,000 years.

Li Xiaolin, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, who headed that delegation, said she hoped the exchange will be an effective channel to deepen friendship and understanding between the countries' people.

With an investigation under way into what caused Saturday's tragedy, many people will reflect on the safety of air travel. But the exchange of Chinese and US citizens — students and tourists — across each other's borders is unlikely to abate.