GMW.CN Media Convergence Reporter: Lei Aixia

Correspondent: Guang Tianchong   Photo by Zhang Guoying

On July 11, the "Chinese Dream · Cross-Strait Love" 2018 summer camp for college students of Zhanjiang and Taiwan came to a close. In the past five days, more than 80 teachers and students from 13 universities in Taiwan and Zhanjiang discussed the cultural origin of Zhanjiang and Taiwan in the southern China coastal city while enjoying the blue sea and sky together.

 

This is the tenth Zhanjiang-Taiwan summer camp for college students held in Zhanjiang. Over the past 10 years, Lingnan Normal University (LNU) has relied on the platform of summer camp to carry out cooperation and exchange with other schools to jointly realize the education dream. This has promoted the cross-Strait teachers and students' understanding of the same root and origin of Zhanjiang and Taiwan and deepened the sense of "people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are families". Friends on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are getting closer and closer.

With ten years of love, the summer camp makes Zhanjiang and Taiwan universities get closer

"I was hired to give lectures in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries. Seeing all the efforts made by Chinese people to spread Chinese culture, I also hope to return to my hometown one day and do what I can. This summer camp has given me such an opportunity." Professor Feng Guanfu, a famous psychologist, who was born in Zhanjiang and lives in Taiwan, takes the trouble to travel back and forth between Taiwan and Zhanjiang every year.

In 2008, the first summer camp for college students in Zhanjiang and Taiwan was sponsored by the Taiwan Affairs Office of Zhanjiang Municipal People's Government through Feng Guanfu's efforts. 90 teachers and students from five universities in Taiwan arrived in Zhanjiang and conducted a 7-day exchange activity with teachers and students from Guangdong Ocean University, LNU and other universities in Zhanjiang.

In the following nine years, LNU, together with Taiwan Normal Education Association and Taiwan University of Education, organized several summer camps for college students in Zhanjiang and Taiwan, which have been held in LNU. Nearly 1,000 teachers and students from 37 Taiwan universities, including Taiwan Normal University, National Taichung University of Education and National Pingtung University of Education, came to the port city of Zhanjiang to participate in a variety of summer camp activities together with more than 5,000 Zhanjiang college students.

Yang Siwei, former President of Taiwan Normal Education Association and President of National Taichung University of Education, has come to LNU for various academic exchange activities, and he was the general leader of the first summer camp. "When I first came to Zhanjiang, I felt at home," he said. "It is a feeling connected by blood."

"Every time I come to Zhanjiang and LNU, it is just like returning to my home." This is the sixth time for Wu Qingji, President of Taiwan University of Education, to come to Zhanjiang as the general leader of the summer camp. He hopes that the platform of summer camp could further strengthen the exchanges between young people on both sides of the straits, deepen the national emotions and make contributions to the peaceful development of cross-Strait peace.

This is a journey to find our roots and a constant "Cross-Strait Love"

In the "Cassia Fistula Garden" of LNU, young students from Zhanjiang and Taiwan gathered together for a group photo. A tree seed brought back from National University of Tainan nine years ago has grown into a leafy forest after taking root, grafting, branching and careful cultivation. At this time of the year, the Cassia Fistula flowers are blooming in golden clusters.

Liu Minggui said with emotion: "All the guests, friends, teachers and students who participate in the summer camp are the seeds of cross-Strait exchanges; they have promoted the cross-Strait educational and cultural exchanges to blossom and bear fruits!"

Led by students from LNU, teachers and students from Taiwan visited the campus. Zhan Zhijun from the National Taichung University of Education said with emotion: "This campus is amazing, with many places full of traditional cultural atmosphere, such as the college square, the landscape sculpture Confucius and Lao Tzu, the centennial normal school memorial tower, and the Taiwanese artist's ceramic wall Ask Canal……The landscape design and education function have achieved a harmonious coexistence."

History has closely linked Zhanjiang with Taiwan. As the hometown of Taiwan magistrate Chen Bin, the national famous historical and cultural city LeiZhou is a place where teachers and students from Taiwan will definitely visit. In 1702, Chen Bin, who was born in the Nantian Village, LeiZhou city, was sent to Taiwan to be an official for three times and managed Taiwan for ten years. He was called "The Outstanding Honest and Upright Official" by emperor Kangxi.

In order to trace the common historical and cultural origins of Zhanjiang and Taiwan, teachers and students from Taiwan have made great efforts to understand Zhanjiang and appreciate its cultural customs. They wandered in the magic world Geopark HuGuangYan and planted the Zhanjiang-Taiwan Friendship Forest, visited the ancient three stones of the Han Dynasty and enjoyed the glory of being the port of origin of the maritime Silk Road. They also made tour to the Suixi thousand-year old Confucius temple to share traditional Chinese classical culture, enjoyed the beauty of Zhanjiang bay on the "Red Gull" cruise ship, went to the Zhanjiang iron and steel base to touch the development process of Zhanjiang modern industry……

"We are particularly touched by the song Love Together and hope that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can love each other", said Zheng Zuxin, a student from the University of Taipei. During the summer camp, students from Zhanjiang and Taiwan carried out a variety of cultural and sports activities and evening parties. Young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait have worked hand in hand to seek common development. They organized forum with the theme of "Reform of Learning Styles and Development of College Students across the Taiwan Strait" and conducted dialogue and exchange activities such as "For the Future - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Interview of Zhanjiang and Taiwan College Students" and "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Achievements Exhibition of Zhanjiang and Taiwan College Students".

In Wu Qingji's opinion, the close cooperation and in-depth exchanges between Zhanjiang and Taiwan college students have enhanced mutual understanding, forged a profound friendship, deepened teachers and students' understanding of Taiwan and Zhanjiang being of the same root and origin, and deepened the sense of "People on Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait are Families".

People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait build bridge of friendship and share educational resources together

Ten years of hard work has yielded fruitful results. Liu Minggui said: "The summer camp has been held continuously for ten years, an effort that is rarely seen in universities across China though it is not unique. Taking summer camp as a bridge, LNU has actively expanded cooperation and exchanges with Taiwan universities in teaching, scientific research, talent training and other aspects. It has become one of the universities with much influence in terms of cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan and the highlight of exchanges between the province and Taiwan."

In the past ten years, LNU has established a regular cooperation platform of "Three Forums, One Camp, One Center and One Major" with Taiwan universities. "Three Forums" refer to the cross-Strait teacher and education high-end forum, cross-Strait special education high-end forum and forum for principals of cross-Strait normal universities; "One Camp" refers to the summer camp for Zhanjiang and Taiwan college students; "One Center" refers to the Guangdong Collaborative Innovation Platform - "The Collaborative Innovation and Development Center for Guangdong and Taiwan Teachers and Education"; "One Major" refers to the special education major that adopts the mode of "3.5+0.5" to jointly cultivate special education talents.

According to Lan Yanze, Vice President of LNU, the platform provided by the summer camp for Zhanjiang and Taiwan college students has enabled us to have a deep education concept exchange with the principals of Taiwan universities, and the series of academic exchange activities have expanded our vision of running the school.