We were fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in this year’s China Synergy Programme for Outstanding Youth (CSP), a fantastic programme that brings together Chinese participants from around the world to learn about China and exchange views on issues related to its development. During this 17-day trip, we experienced the dynamism of Hong Kong as a financial centre, the rapid growth of Guangzhou as the host of the Asian Games 2010, the fusion of history and modernisation in Xi’an, the global village of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai and the economic drive of Beijing.

In addition to meeting different participants, all of whom were of Chinese origin, we gained a first-hand understanding of China today.

A great honour for us during the trip was to meet Mr Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The state leader told us about the latest development of China and urged us to work and study hard. He also suggested that we pay more attention to the mainland market as China is an emerging power in the 21st century.

Another highlight of our trip was the visit to Shanghai World Expo 2010. We had the privilege of visiting the China Pavilion without queuing up. Inside the Pavilion, we watched a short, moving film that said every Chinese for the past 30 years has been working relentlessly for the development of China. We were also told of the rapid development of Shanghai at a lecture by the chief planner of the Expo.

Our group liked the city of Xi’an very much, especially the Terracotta Army, one of China’s most popular tourist attractions. But these days the city’s fame rests not just with cultural heritage but also with its advances in technology. We found out that China has been building aircraft for two decades already—a surprising fact to us! The Xi’an Aircraft Company has been building planes in collaboration with Airbus and Boeing for the past few years.

One of the features of CSP is that it gathers students from universities around the world, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton and many more. We got the opportunity to share our views on different facets of life and to see how people with different political views can come together in a harmonious way to express their passion for and views on China. No matter where we are from, we are still Chinese and territorial boundaries cannot separate us. In order for China to develop in a humanitarian, democratic and sustainable way, Chinese from different regions should contribute back to China at different levels.

To conclude, we would like to quote a few words from Mr Jia Qinglin: “What we have to do as young talent is to prepare ourselves, to study hard, to be diligent and grasp the chance to contribute to our motherland in the near future.” This bears the same philosophy as the mission of CityU: “To nurture and develop the talents of students and create applicable knowledge in order to support social and economic advancement.”

We would like to thank the organising committee, CSP, especially the sponsors, Dr Chan Sui-kau and Ms Leung Kwok-ching, who provided us with this invaluable experience. We also like to thank CityU, especially Mr Joseph Chan Kai-nin and Ms Winnie Pong Yuen-lan from Student Development Services (SDS) for nominating us to join such a memorable event. As a group of young professionals, we are committed to making our society a better place to live and contributing to the development of Hong Kong and our motherland.