On September 15, the “Seeing the Real China” China-US Youth Dialogue, organized by CGTN, was held in Beijing. Duan Peng, President of Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech on China-US youth exchanges, the mission of universities, and mutual learning among civilizations.
Quoting President Xi Jinping’s remark that “the hope for China-US relations lies in the people, the foundation in the grassroots, the future in the youth, and the vitality in the local communities,” Duan noted that youth exchanges turn broader themes in bilateral relations into understanding that young people can directly experience and carry forward. He asked what kind of China-US relationship should be passed on to the next generation, and what shared future the two sides will create together. The impressions young people form of each other, he said, gradually become social memory that shapes how both countries understand one another.
Duan stressed that universities keep open a window for mutual understanding and a space for rational dialogue between the two societies. Citing the Doctrine of the Mean, “All things are nourished together without their injuring one another; and the courses (of the seasons, and of the sun and moon) are pursued without any collision among them,” alongside Jefferson’s line about preferring the dreams of the future to the history of the past, he argued that differences do not necessarily mean distance. He added that BLCU has trained more than 300,000 international students, including nearly 20,000 Americans, and that face-to-face contact is often where understanding and trust begin.
In the exchange session, Long Jinyang, an American master’s student at BLCU, shared how the support and care he received from the university, his teachers, and classmates helped him adapt to life in China. Discussing the impact of AI on language students, he said technology can improve efficiency, but face-to-face communication remains irreplaceable because it conveys tone, emotion and cultural background. About 40 BLCU teachers and students joined the program recording and engaged in discussions with faculty and student representatives from Chinese and American universities.
Editor : Wang ZiYun
