From January 7th to 12th, a delegation of teachers and students from California State University Long Beach (CSULB) was invited to visit QUT. This came nearly two months after the initiative was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in California. The initiative aims to invite 50,000 young people from the United States to visit the country within the next five years.
On January 8th, the opening ceremony of "Long Beach University Students' Visit Qingdao" was held in QUT. Vice President of QUT Prof.CHEN Lianjun, representatives of Qingdao Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, teachers and students from CSULB and QUT attended. Prof.ZHOU Hongyan, Director of Office of International Affairs and Dean of College of International Education, presided over the opening ceremony.
On behalf of QUT, Prof.CHEN Lianjun extended a warm welcome to the delegation from CSULB and introduced QUT and the arrangement of activities in campus. He hoped that the teachers and students of CSULB could have a comprehensive understanding of China, Qingdao city and QUT through this visit.
Ms.ZHANG Heidi , Director of the International Project Department of CSULB thanked QUT’s preparation for their visit, introduced CSULB and the cooperation between two universities in recent years, and expressed the good wishes for further cooperation between QUT and CSULB and the friendship between Chinese and American teachers and students.
The atmosphere of the opening ceremony was cheerful and warm. Students of QUT performed the guitar solo "Hotel California" and the folk dance "Black Hair", which won unanimous applause. QUT presented the hand painting of campus scenery to the delegation and hoped they would have good memories in QUT.
On January 10th, the delegation visited the library and the history hall of QUT, watched the wonderful display of the robot team and formula racing team of the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, visited the intelligent construction laboratory of the School of Civil Engineering, experienced AR and VR equipment, and had a fair idea of information technology applied in the field of civil engineering. In the evening, the teachers and students of CSULB and QUT made dumplings together in the He Yuan Dining Hall. American students were excited to eat dumplings made by themselves, and expressed that they hoped to have more opportunities to communicate with Chinese students in the future and understand China and Chinese culture more deeply.
On the evening of January 11th, Qingdao Municipal Government held the reception for CSULB delegation. Prof. CHEN Lianjun Prof.ZHOU Hongyan and student representatives from QUT attended.
The clean and comfortable accommodation, the combination of Chinese and Western breakfast, the lively and warm opening ceremony and the colorful campus visits in QUT gave a deep impression to the American teachers and students. The visit of the delegation enhanced the mutual trust and friendship between CSULB and QUT, and opened a new chapter of international exchanges and cooperation.
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America：“未来在青年”——美国加利福尼亚州州立大学长滩分校学生访问青岛
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gIC0nOcPQDrTTfMyTaePAg
CGTN：Cultural exchange: American students visit Qingdao at China's invitation
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-01-09/American-students-visit-Qingdao-at-China-s-invitation-1qdPP6wH1As/p.html