[Nanfang Plus] Zhanjiang and Taiwan Hold University Students Summer Camp for 10 Years-Lingnan Normal University•Chinses

Original headline: Zhanjiang and Taiwan hold university students summer camp for 10 years

Original source: http://news.lingnan.edu.cn/html/2018-07/20180712231597658.html

The 2018 Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp with the theme of "Chinese Dream · Cross-Strait Bond" came to an end on July 11, despite participants’ reluctance to part. Over the past five days, more than 80 teachers and students from 13 universities in Taiwan gathered together with their counterparts from universities in Zhanjiang to discuss the cultural origins of Zhanjiang and Taiwan and enjoy the excellent natural environment of the coastal city in South China.

Teachers and students from Taiwan express nostalgia for the motherland at the evening gala (photo by Zhang Guoying)

This is the 10th Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp held in Zhanjiang. Over the past decade, Lingnan Normal University (LNU) has relied on the platform of the summer camp to conduct exchanges and cooperation, and build a dream of education together. The summer camp helps deepen the understanding of teachers and students across the Strait that Taiwan and Zhanjiang have the same origin, and the sense of identity that the two sides of the Strait are of one family, and bring people on both sides closer.

With a ten-year history, the summer camp brings universities in Zhanjiang and Taiwan closer

"When I gave lectures in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries, I saw the Chinese people's efforts in spreading Chinese culture and hoped that I could return to my hometown one day and do what I can do. The Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp offers me such an opportunity," said Professor Feng Kuan-fu, a well-known Taiwanese psychologist with Zhanjiang being his ancestral home. Every year, he travels between Taiwan and Zhanjiang tirelessly.

With the help of Professor Feng and the strong support of Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and Taiwan Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, the first Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp was held by Taiwan Affairs Bureau of the People’s Government of Zhanjiang Municipality in 2008. Some 90 teachers and students from five universities in Taiwan participated in seven-day exchange activities with their counterparts from universities in Zhanjiang, including Guangdong Ocean University and LNU.

Sports exchange activities help strengthen mutual affection (photo by Zheng Yu)

In the following nine years, the Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp was organized by LNU, Taiwan Normal Education Association and Taiwan Education University System and held in LNU. Nearly 1,000 teachers and students from 37 Taiwan universities including Taiwan Normal University, Taichung University of Education, and Pingtung University have come to the port city of Zhanjiang and participated in a variety of summer camp activities with more than 5,000 students from local universities.

Yang Szu-Wei, former director-general of the Taiwan Normal Education Association and the president of Taichung University of Education, is the general leader of the first summer camp. He has visited the LNU many times and participated in various academic exchanges. "I felt at home when I came to Zhanjiang for the first time, it is a flesh-and-blood emotion," said Yang.

“It’s just like returning home every time I come to Zhanjiang and LNU,” said Wu Ching-chi, President-General of Taiwan Education University System, who has come to Zhanjiang for six times as the summer camp’s general leader. He hopes the summer camp platform can help further strengthen exchanges between youths on both sides of the Strait, deepen national sentiments, and contribute to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

Octogenarian Feng Kuan-fu donated The Psychology of Emotion, an academic monograph he took seven years to finish, and the manuscript of the book to LNU. He believes that a university in his hometown is the best destination for his work and manuscript. He has donated more than 500 books to the university, which are kept on a special shelf in the special collection room of the university’s library.

Journey of tracing origins, cross-Strait bond will not be severed

Young students from both sides of the Taiwan Strait posed for a group photo in the Cassia Fistula Garden of LNU. It was nine years ago that Cassia fistula seeds were brought to LNU from Tainan University. Following intensive cultivation, the seeds have grown into trees in leafy profusion. At this time, we can see golden flowers cascading from the branches of Cassia fistula trees.

Liu Minggui said with emotion: "Every participant in the Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp, including distinguished guests, friends, teachers and students, is a seed of cross-Strait exchanges, promoting cross-Strait educational and cultural exchanges to bloom and yield fruit!"

Teachers and students from Taiwan feel the charm of traditional culture on the campus of LNU (photo by Long Qiuyue)

Under the guidance of warm-hearted students of the LNU, Taiwanese teachers and students looked around the campus. Chan Chih-chun from Taichung University of Education said with emotion: "This campus is amazing, the Academy Square featuring the traditional culture, the sculpture Wen Dao (a story about Confucius consulting Laozi about rituals), the Memorial Tower of Hundred Years Normal Educations, and the public ceramic relief mural Wen Qu created by a Taiwan artist, all of these landscape design coexists harmoniously with their educational functions."

Zhanjiang and Taiwan are closely linked by their histories. In order to trace the common historical and cultural origins of Zhanjiang and Taiwan, teachers and students from Taiwan had a deep understanding of Zhanjiang by exploring local conditions and customs. They planted trees that symbolize the friendship between Zhanjiang and Taiwan in the magical Huguang Lake Global Geopark, appreciated the past glory of the starting port of the ancient Maritime Silk Road in the Dahan Sandun Tourist Resort, shared classic traditional Chinese culture at the Suixi Confucian Temple, enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Zhanjiang port on the “Red-beak Gull” cruise, and witnessed the progress in Zhanjiang’s modern industry in the city’s iron and steel base.

“We are deeply moved by the song Get Together for Big Love, and I hope that people of both sides of the Strait can get together for big love," Cheng Tsu-hsin from the University of Taipei said happily. During the summer camp, the students from Taiwan and Zhanjiang took part in a variety of cultural and sports events and an evening gala. To go forward hand in hand and seek common development, they organized theme forums including Change in Learning Styles and Growth of University Students Across the Strait, and carried out dialogues and exchanges, such as Look into the Future - Zhanjiang and Taiwan University Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Interview and Zhanjiang and Taiwan University Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Achievement Exhibition.

Summer camp flag-granting ceremony (photo by Zhang Guoying)

Build a bridge and realize the dream of education together

Ten-year efforts have come to fruition. Liu Minggui, Party Secretary and President of LNU, 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 the summer camp as a bridge, LNU actively expands cooperation and exchanges with Taiwan universities in teaching, scientific research, talent cultivation, etc. LNU has become one of influential universities in the Chinese mainland in terms of cooperation with Taiwan universities, and has become a highlight of exchanges between a city/ province and Taiwan."

Over the past ten years, LNU has worked with Taiwan universities to establish a normalized cooperation platform of “three forums, one camp, one center and one major”. “Three forums” are the Cross-Strait Teachers Education High-level Forum, the Cross-Strait Special Education High-level Forum and the Cross-Strait Normal University Presidents Forum. “One camp” is the Zhanjiang-Taiwan University Students Summer Camp. “One center” is the Guangdong-Taiwan Teachers Education Collaborative Innovation and Development Center, a collaborative innovation platform of Guangdong Province. "One major" is the special education major for joint training of students with special needs using the "3.5+0.5" mode.

At present, LNU is the largest special education university in Guangdong, and is the director-general of the Guangdong Special Education Teacher Development Alliance. Professor Wu Wu-Tien, Taiwan special education founder and former Dean of College of Education, Taiwan Normal University, was appointed as an honorary professor of the Department of Special Education of LNU and guided the discipline construction. Each year, LNU invites more than 5 experts from the special education field in Taiwan to give lessons, and send students to Taiwan for half-year studying.