The fifth Soong Ching-ling International Summer Camp kicked off in Beijing on July 17, bringing together about 400 youth from 26 countries under the banner of “In China, Be Friends”.

Prior to the opening ceremony, warm-up events were offered at Laffitte Castle Park, in which the young participants learned about each other, Chinese folk art, and creative works from around the world. Since it was the first time for most of the participants to be in China, the events allowed them to show who they were and to make friends from various backgrounds in a relaxing atmosphere.

“Isn’t it a pleasure to have friends come from afar?” Qi Mingqiu, executive vice president of the China Soong Ching-ling Foundation, said at the opening ceremony, borrowing a sentence from Confucius. He welcomed the young people from around the globe, invited them to make friends in China and encouraged them to experience cultural diversity at the camp.

The camp featured the well-designed China Roundtable meeting on July 17, in which a total of 25 young representatives from 18 organizations discussed the relationship between cultural diversity and the growth of young people. Their talks involved multi-cultural exchanges, cross-cultural exchanges and volunteer programs, as well as the influence and importance of cross-cultural exchanges.

During the seven-day event, the campers spent three days in Beijing and visited places of interest, such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. They also visited local communities and learned native acrobatics. They were divided into two groups, with one going to see what modern China is in Shanghai and Wuhu, and the other learned about cultural diversity in Inner Mongolia.

Attendees at the opening ceremony included CSCLF vice president Ji Peiding, secretary Li Ning, and China-based diplomats from the embassies of Parkistan, India, Japan, Malaysia, Hungary, Belarus, Egypt, Ghana and Mozambique.