Summer camp strengthens ties

A student from a US tour group enjoys dancing with Chinese students while visiting the Affiliated School of Beijing Normal University on April 18. (LIU ZUNSHUAN/XINHUA)

Many ponds in North China have been filled with fully-bloomed lotus flowers in recent days. They are a visual feast not only for Chinese tourists but also for many young people from the United States.

While admiring the flowers in Baoding city's Ancient Lotus Pond with his Chinese peers, David Einy Herrera took many pictures with his phone. "This flower is so beautiful! I've never seen such a flower before," said Herrera, a member of a US delegation that visited Baoding, Hebei province, this month for a 12-day summer camp with Chinese peers.

From July 10 to 21, the delegation of high school students and teachers from the West Contra Costa Unified School District in California visited the ancient city, which is about 150 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing. During their trip, the group also visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China in neighboring Beijing.

After arriving in Baoding, the 38 students and seven teachers were greeted by their Chinese hosts from the Affiliated School of Hebei Baoding Normal.

Together, both groups visited several local tourist attractions, and the US visitors had the chance to learn and experience Chinese cultural activities, which helped the flower of friendship between Chinese and American young people begin to blossom.

"We have become friends and will keep in touch with each other via WeChat in the future because we have common interests and hobbies," said Daniel Peterson, adding that he will definitely visit China again.

A member of a US high school student delegation from Iowa visits the Hebei Museum in Shijiazhuang on June 9. (CUI YUJIA/CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

While visiting the attractions, members of the US group said they really enjoyed the activities. Encouraged by their Chinese peers, they tried their hand at writing with calligraphy brushes and played ping-pong. They were also given folding fans with different Chinese characters such as fenghe, or "wind lotus" and longfei, or "dragon flies".

"The characters for longfei are written in traditional Chinese characters," said Peterson, 18. "I think traditional characters are beautiful, but not as easy to write as simplified characters."

Elsewhere, a Peking Opera performance captivated the US teachers and students, after which they were taught some of the movements from the performers. "I didn't do the moves very well, but it was really interesting," Herrera said.

Deeply impressed with Chinese culture, some said they would bring gifts back to their friends and family and that they would like to visit China again in the future.

High school students from Washington State play a game with Chinese students at the Shenzhen Nanshan Foreign Language School in Guangdong province, on March 25. A series of US delegations have visited China this year. (MAO SIQIAN/XINHUA)

The summer camp was created in response to a program announced by President Xi Jinping in November in San Francisco, where he invited 50,000 young people from the US to visit China over the next five years for exchanges and opportunities to study.

Since then, several US delegations have visited China, traveling to cities such as Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi province.