During the past month, UIC has organised a number of summer programmes for hundreds of students from the Mainland, Hong Kong as well as Taiwan in efforts for them to gain a better understanding of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
By visiting the Greater Bay Area himself, Xiahou Huimin, a student from Nanchang University, said he had a clear idea of the livelihood, culture and economy of the area.
Thanks to the Dragon Wish 2019 Cross-Strait Youth Exchange Programme, Huimin came to UIC in Zhuhai on 26 July with a group of 124 students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China universities and high schools.
Participants of the Dragon Wish 2019 Cross-Strait Youth Exchange Programme gather at UIC
Huimin believed communication leads to a stronger community and took the opportunities to make friends from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology from Taiwan, Harbin Institute of Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, UIC, and more.
The students join a charity event in Zhuhai
Year 2 e-Business Management and Information Systems student Yang Hongde was one of the seven UIC participants in the Dragon Wish programme. He joined a charity activity in Hong Kong, where he saw the crowded metro, busy buses and fast-paced people, which triggered his new thoughts about the Greater Bay Area as well as interpersonal relations.
In addition, a record high of 437 UIC students spent a four-week summer programme at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) in July.
Since 2007 this summer programme has been a well-established tradition, in which UIC students attend classes offered by HKBU besides experiencing local life with fellow students from HKBU and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
On the other hand, over 170 high school and university students as well as volunteers from Hong Kong relished their journey at UIC during the ‘Adversity Challenge 2019’ summer camp, which was held between 5 and 8 July, and was organised by Hong Kong’s ‘Youth New World’ as well as UIC.
This was the fifth time that UIC has joined hands with ‘Youth New World’ in order to promote the exchange of youth between Guangdong and Hong Kong as well as noting that there were nine UIC participants for the first time.
The Hong Kong students attend UIC's Whole Person Education experiential learning module
Year 1 HKBU student, Lee Tim Long, took part in the 60-kilometre cycling trip around Zhuhai with the big group during the Adversity Challenge.
Cycling around Zhuhai
Impressed by the environment, the facilities and UIC students’ kindness, Mr Lee felt this was a memorable expedition, and highlighted the precious friendships with UIC students.
A visit to UIC's Learning Resource Centre
UIC also launched the ‘Tencent Youth Camp – Experiencing UIC's Liberal Arts Education’ for the Greater Bay Area on 20 July. More than 100 Mainland students and 30 Hong Kong students expanded their visions of liberal arts education.
Mainland and Hong Kong students come to UIC to learn about Liberal Arts Education and the Greater Bay Area
The students are given an introduction to the gym equipment by a UIC faculty member
Students and their parents have a guqin lesson
From 9 to 10 July, 40 Year 5 students from Hong Kong’s Shanghai Alumni Primary School entered a STEM-themed summer camp at UIC. They were immersed in an informative and fun vibe when learning how to shoot during Chinese archery as well as paper-making, cooking biscuits as well as designing water purifiers, with the help of 18 UIC students.
The Hong Kong pupils enjoy a team-building game
A UIC student teaches the Hong Kong pupils how to use a microscope
Another 17 teenagers from Guangdong and Jiangxi joined UIC’s first-fortnight long summer camp on Chinese culture opened on 15 July. Courses included studying poetry writing, ceramics, guqin, Shedao (archery), canoeing, Lingnan lion dance, English language as well as emotional intelligence.
UIC's Vice President (Academic Affairs) Prof Chen Zhi gives a lecture on Shijing (Book of Songs)
Learning Shedao (Chinese archery)
Performing Lingnan lion dance
Established in Zhuhai by Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University in 2005, UIC was the true pioneer of hybrid universities in the Greater Bay Area.
It has always been striving to integrate creatively and dynamically international and national experiences of education and to promote liberal arts education by tapping into both classical Chinese and Western cultural traditions.
One of the goals of UIC’s liberal arts education is to cultivate students who understand the local culture and society with an international vision.
Over the years, UIC has utilised its unique strengths to build a bridge to connect young people as well as scholars from Mainland China and Hong Kong.
Reporter: Deen He
Photographers: Aria Wu, Cheryl Chen, Irene Yu, Ivy Liao, Ben Wen,
Lowry Qu, Zhang Yancheng, Liang Tianshi, Yang Hongde
Editor: Samuel Burgess
(from MPRO)
