Foreign researchers visit a relics exhibition in Beijing, as part of the Cultivating Young Sinologists Plan.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The Ministry of Culture's three-week training program to help foreign scholars better understand China, entered its second year on Monday and will run through July 25.

Held in Beijing since last summer, the program this time has attracted 36 people from 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, Russia, the Netherlands and Japan.

The Sinologists, ages 25 to 45, are mostly college teachers and think-tank researchers, who will visit Chinese universities and other bodies based on their scholarly requirements, according to the Ministry of Culture.

During their stay, the delegates will also make a trip to Central China's Henan province, to see the Shaolin Temple and possibly meet abbot Shi Yongxin.

The program, Cultivating Young Sinologists Plan, was held twice last year－in July and September－offering 56 foreign scholars a chance to visit the top government think tank Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Palace Museum, Peking University and the Chinese National Academy of Arts.

"China has opened up economically for some time. The central government is ready to be open at an ideological level, and we welcome outstanding scholars in social sciences to take part in our program," says Zhu Qi, an official at the Ministry of Culture who is in charge of the program.

The program invites China's influential figures from fields such as economics, culture and literature to deliver speeches to the participants.

This year, Wang Meng, a well-known writer; Li Yining, a leading economist; and Ge Jianxiong, a famous historian, are on the speakers' list.

According to Dong Wei, vice-minister of the culture ministry, last year's programs helped Sinologists gain a deeper knowledge of Chinese people and China's culture, and the country is willing to invite more of them for research here.