TTwenty-three students from eight universities in Kyushu and Okinawa visited Lanzhou and Dunhuang in Gansu Province from September 2 to 7, 2024 as a friendship delegation. The delegation, led by Director Kenji Iwata, was organized by the Consulate General of China in Fukuoka, and eight students and graduate students participated.
On Tuesday, August 20, prior to their visit to China, a pre-training and send-off party was held at the Consulate General of China in Fukuoka. Four mixed-university groups were formed, and under the supervision of each group representative, students collaborated with each other to conduct training activities and exchange with local university students.
In the first half of the trip, the group visited the inland industrial city of Lanzhou, where they toured historical sites and museums, and also had an opportunity to visit Lanzhou University and interact with students. The delegation paid a courtesy call on Vice President Cao Hong of Lanzhou University, and four representatives of the student group participated in the visit together with Mr. Iwata and Ms. Reiko Aoki, the leader and vice leader of the delegation, respectively, and introduced what they are currently studying in Chinese. Afterwards, the delegation held an exchange meeting with students studying in the Japanese language department of the university's Faculty of Foreign Languages. Group discussions were held on various themes, and the results of the discussions were presented in a debriefing session in a mixture of Chinese and Japanese.
In the second half of their stay, they visited Dunhuang, the hub of the Silk Road. They had a rare opportunity to visit the Mogao Grottoes, which are the world's most valuable Buddhist monuments, and the gigantic sand dunes of Mount Mingsha.
All in all, the student exchange program at Lanzhou University was an irreplaceable experience for each of the participating students. The students also learned about the long history of exchange between China and the western world in Dunhuang, and observed a part of modern China's development in the inland industrial area of Lanzhou.
On Sunday, November 3, a wrap-up meeting was held at the Consulate General of China in Fukuoka, where group representatives gave presentations and reviewed the training.
It is hoped that this visit will serve as a starting point for the future global activities of the participating students and lead to further development of inter-university exchange between China and Japan.
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