Cross-Strait exchanges help boost mutual understanding(2)

Hospitality, enthusiasm

During their trip to Taiwan, the mainland students were touched by the hospitality and enthusiasm for interaction shown by their counterparts on the island as they visited four universities and held a number of exchange sessions with local students.

Zhang said she discovered that young people on both sides of the Strait want the opportunity to communicate with each other and to travel to their respective homes.

The young people from Taiwan were particularly interested in the customs and traditions of the mainland, along with mobile payment, campus life and common topics among young people such as academic pressure, employment concerns, marriage and family issues, she said.

They also enjoyed using the mainland's social media platforms to learn about life on the other side of the Strait, she added.

In Taiwan, Zhang said she met a student at the island's Taiwan University who had visited the mainland before and had a very positive impression as a result of that experience.

She added that the student told her that his personal experience of the mainland's customs and traditions was completely different from what he had learned through the media in Taiwan.

Li, the mainland student, said misunderstandings can arise from a lack of understanding and communication, and there are many common topics and shared perspectives between young people on both sides of the Strait.

Li recalled that a Taiwan student who was very interested in the mainland came to her group's hotel almost every night to chat until very late. When the mainlanders left, the student gave each of them a handwritten letter expressing the hope that they would be able to stay in touch.

She also said she had encountered many differences between the two sides in Taiwan. For example, the contrasting attitudes toward simplified and traditional Chinese characters, which are used on the mainland and Taiwan respectively.

"I voluntarily switched to using the traditional Chinese input method when communicating with the Taiwan students. To my surprise, they also happily switched to using simplified characters when messaging me," Li said, adding that the young people from both sides were very considerate to each other.

Hao Ping, Party chief of Peking University who led the mainland visitors' group, said the trip was unforgettable for all the mainland students, and they could feel the welcome and goodwill of the Taiwan compatriots, which made him feel that the emotional bonds between the two sides are inseparable.

Through the visit, the exchanges between young people on both sides of the Strait will become deeper and their friendship will deepen, which will definitely be beneficial to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, he said.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen, director of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, said, "During the farewell dinner, many mainland students shed tears, feeling reluctant to be separated from their Taiwan counterparts, and they made arrangements to meet again."

Hsiao said the Taiwan people the mainlanders encountered during the trip gave them a thumbs-up and urged the foundation to promote more youth exchanges on both sides of the Strait.