On Nov. 11th-15th, 2017, the 4th Silk Road Youth Tour was held respectively in Nanjing, Nantong and Taizhou, which was organized by theDepartment of International Economic Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government. A total of 60 international students including 5 of NMU, who are from 22 countries along the Belt and Road regions participated in this activity, covering 11 higher institutions of Jiangsu Province such as Nanjing University, Southeastern University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing Medical University, Soochow University, Jiangnan University, Jiangsu University, Nantong University, Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University and Jiangsu Vocational Institute of Commerce.
During the 5 days tour, by means of field visit and experience, international students understood the concept of the Belt and Road Initiative, learned Chinese traditional culture, felt the economic and social development of Jiangsu, and expanded the friendly exchange between Chinese and foreign culture.
The opening ceremony was held in the Grand Baoen Temple Heritage and Scenic Area of Nanjing, with 60 international students in Chinese traditional costumes of Han Dynasty sitting at the Chinese traditional study tables in the tower square. They listened carefully to the teachers and experienced the rites between teachers and students in ancient China, felt the charm of traditional Chinese culture.
On the morning of Nov. 12th, the youth group came to the second stop, the county of Haian, which is a part of Nantong City, and paid a visit to the Jiangsu Lianfa Textile Co., Ltd. After their visit of the productive department, they understood the production flow from raw materials to finished products and highly praised Chinese manufacture. During the visit of the Museum of Haian, international students learned the story of the the ancient house owner, and expressed their admiration to the Chinese national hero. In the afternoon, international students came to the third stop, Nantong city, and visited the Intangible Cultural Heritage Network in Nantong by listening to the play of Chinese zither, watching the making of harrier kite and experiencing making of paper-cut and sauko to enjoy the unique charm of Jianghai culture in Nantong. In the evening, international students visited the Haohe River by boat, enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the river, learned the history of Nantong and used their cameras to record the wonderful moments.
On the morning of Nov. 13th, the youth group came to visit the productive department of Zhongtian Technology Submarine Cables Co., LTD (ZTT Group) and attended the recruitment meeting for foreigners. In the afternoon, the international students came to Nantong University to participate in the simulated job hunting competition which was organized for cultivating talents from Silk and Road countries. ZTT Group, Shuangma Chemical, Dino Daily Chemical Products and other companies were present in the competition, and would like to provide internship and job opportunities for international students. In the evening, the evening party of Chinese and foreign students light up all the audiences. NMU international students performed solo songs and group songs, which won warm applauses for a long time.
On Nov. 14th, the youth group came to Taizhou city, the last stop of the tour. They visited the Taizhou Museum, Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall and Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, had a close look at Taizhou's economic, cultural and urban development achievements.
On the morning of Nov. 15th, the International Cooperation Case Analysis Meeting, the last part of the tour, was successfully held. Mr. Zheng Weiguo, Deputy Mayor of the People’s Government of Taizhou, Mr. Huang Xiqiang, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, Mr. Sheng Caiqiang, Deputy Director of Division of Asia Affairs of Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, Mr. Wang Qiang, Deputy Director of the Foreign (Overseas Chinese) Affairs Office of Taizhou People’s Government and Prof. Yang Meixia, Dean of College of Economics and Management, Taizhou University attended the meeting. After the meeting, Tai Rui, an Indonesian student of NMU was interviewed by the Taizhou Evening Newspaper, and expressed her personal opinion from the perspective of a medical student towards the Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group and city development of Taizhou. Finally, the 4th Silk Road Tour was successfully concluded.
Till now, the Silk Road Tour has been successfully held for fourth, with the purpose of enhancing the sense of identity of Jiangsu international students towards Chinese culture, deepening their understanding of the economic and social development of China and outstanding enterprises of Jiangsu Province, cultivating messengers of cultural exchanges between China and countries along the Belt and Road regions as well as further promotingcultural exchanges and economic cooperation between Jiangsu and the Belt and Road countries. This year is the first time for NMU to be invited to participate in this activity. All five NMU students showed their good discipline, full vigor, nice teamwork and great talents, winning the high evaluation of the organizers and fully showed their elegant demeanor of NMU.
