A delegation of 51 outstanding Bangladeshi students recently visited China at the invitation of Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh. The trip was jointly organized by the Bangla-desh-China Foundation for the Future and the Beijing International Educa-tion Exchange Centre. For most of the students, it was their first visit to China, but the language barrier did not prevent them from understanding the country. “Chinese peo-ple are friendly and helpful. We had some difficulties communicating with each other, but I made friends with many students there,” said Sumaida, a stu-dent from Chit-tagong High School.

Before coming to China, Bangla-deshi students zealously researched this ancient and mysterious country. Zaral is 16 years old and is also from Chittagong High School. He said, “China has a long history and many ethnic minorities. It has a large vari-ety of food. Chinese culture is highly developed, which explains why Chi-na is at the fore-front of the world today. I am impressed with Chinese people’s deep love of their country.”

Bangladeshi students also attended Peking opera for the first time. They were fasci-nated with the unique singing, costumes and actions. “I have never seen such difficult stage performances before. They must have practiced a lot of to achieve such a high level,” said Zaral. 

They fell in love with Chinese food, saying the cuisine is diverse, refined and nutri-tious. They made a joke that they had put on some weight while visiting China.

The Bangladesh-China Founda-tion for the Future was established to increase communication and exchanges between young people in Bangladesh and China. “Young people are the future of these two countries. Their communication can promote under-standing and cultural exchanges between the two countries. The young people who cannot come to China this time can also learn about China through the students who did visit,” said Mr. Al-man Akon, assistant president of the Bangladesh-China Foundation for the Future.