Recently, another group of students from Muscatine Middle School in Iowa, USA, are excitedly preparing for their “trip to China” in April.
Many students from this school have visited China.
More than a month ago, they climbed the Great Wall and visited the Forbidden City in Beijing; experienced traditional Chinese skills in Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai; and participated in robot and dragon dance experience activities with Chinese students at the High School Affiliated to Fudan University.
Talking about his "trip to China" with his friends, middle school student Stone Jin excitedly shared: "There are many cool places in China. We talk about life, the Spring Festival and food with our Chinese friends." Stone Jin The most exciting thing was the Chinese culture. She and a classmate both had the idea of studying in China.
This is the epitome of youthful friendly people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, and it is also a vivid practice of the global civilization initiative.
One year ago, on March 15, at the high-level dialogue between the Communist Party of China and world political parties, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the global civilization initiative for the first time.
The Global Civilization Initiative advocates the persistence of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and tolerance among civilizations, and the use of exchanges among civilizations to transcend estrangement, mutual learning among civilizations to transcend clashes of civilizations, and tolerance among civilizations to transcend superiority among civilizations.
People are the best carrier for exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations.
Only through interaction and communication can the value of civilization be better reflected.
In November 2023, at the joint welcome banquet of American friendship groups held in San Francisco, President Xi Jinping stated in his speech that China is willing to invite 50,000 American teenagers to come to China for exchange and study in the next five years.
From January 24th to 30th this year, the first batch of American teenagers to come to China under this project, more than 20 students from Muscatine Middle School, went to Beijing, Hebei, Shanghai and other places for exchange visits.
Valle, a student from Muscatine, had done his "homework" early. He downloaded WeChat before coming to China. "I heard that Chinese people widely use this social software, and I also left the contact information of my Chinese friends."
This trip to China made Valle and his classmates feel that young people in the United States and China have far more similarities than differences.
"Previously, I had the impression that American students were more outgoing than us, but after actually getting in touch with them, I discovered that they also have different personalities. I hope they can share this experience with their friends when they go back." Participating with peers from Muscatine Middle School The activity also brought new feelings to Xie Tianyi, a junior high school student in Shanghai.
"We are in China!" "Super happy!" Before the end of their visit to China, the children of Muscatine Middle School wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping, expressing their joy of coming to China and sharing their experiences of the trip. and feelings.
Soon, they received a reply from President Xi Jinping.
In his reply letter, President Xi Jinping encouraged the children by saying that “seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times”, and welcomed more young American friends to come to China to exchange and study, so as to experience a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive China first-hand.
The story of friendly exchanges between students from China and the United States shows that deepening people-to-people and cultural exchanges is an important way to eliminate barriers and misunderstandings and promote people-to-people understanding. It is also a bridge leading to mutual learning among civilizations.
In April 2014, President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, using "tea and wine" as a metaphor for the colorful symbiosis of civilizations——
"Just as Chinese people like tea and Belgians like beer, the subtlety of tea and the enthusiasm of wine represent two different ways of tasting life and interpreting the world. However, tea and wine are not incompatible. They can both meet over wine. A thousand cups are too few for a good friend, but you can also enjoy tea and savor life.”
Rooted in the fertile soil of China's five thousand years of civilization, the Global Civilization Initiative advocates a civilizational view of "harmony in diversity, and sharing of beauty and beauty", transcending the Western "theory of superiority and inferiority of civilizations" and "clash of civilizations", and has strong practical significance and practical value.
This initiative defends the perspective of equality among civilizations, emphasizes a broad-minded understanding of the value connotations of different civilizations, and opposes the imposition of one's own values and models on others.
Over the past year, the Global Civilization Initiative has actively responded to the international community’s universal appeal for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, promoting and leading the way forward for inclusive coexistence of civilizations.
Host the Chengdu Universiade, Hangzhou Asian Games, etc., continue to deepen cooperation with UNESCO and the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and carry out the protection and restoration of cultural relics and historic sites in Uzbekistan, Cambodia and other countries...A series of people-to-people and cultural exchange activities have allowed the world to see China's practices Global civilization initiative, sincere will and practical actions to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Currently, the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.
To resolve the outstanding contradictions and problems faced by mankind, we need to rely on material means to overcome difficulties, and we also need to rely on spiritual power, sincerity and integrity.
Equal exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations will provide powerful spiritual guidance for mankind to solve the problems of the times and achieve common development.
As President Xi Jinping said: "Today, when the future and destiny of all countries are closely linked, tolerance, coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations play an irreplaceable role in promoting the modernization process of human society and prospering the world's garden of civilizations."
China's consistent propositions increasingly demonstrate the value of the times and global significance today.
Producer | Geng Zhimin
Producer丨Xinglai
Editor-in-Chief丨Ning Lili
Written by Cheng Yu
Vision丨Jiang Yuhang
(CCTV News Client)