I have just had a very busy but absolutely fabulous week as the staff supervisor of the Sino-Japan Youth Conference, which has been held on our campus.
The Sino-Japan Youth Conference 2010 was designed to follow up the first such conference, also held on our campus in August 2009. Entirely organised by students and graduates of Li Po Chun United World College and other UWCs, the conference was designed to bring together Chinese and Japanese students as Youth Ambassadors with the aim of developing mutual respect and discussing issues of relevance to Sino-Japanese relationships, with the broader objective of empowering the participants to advance new initiatives in the future as well-informed young leaders. The conference brought together 15 Chinese (Mainland China and Hong Kong) and 15 Japanese secondary school students, aided by 20 facilitators.
Although the main venue of the conference was the campus of Li Po Chun United World College, the participants also engaged in a two day trip into the Dongguan district of China’s Pearl River Delta to examine further issues of Sino-Japanese co-operation. Highlights of the Dongguan trip included a lecture by Professor Liang from Beijing University on the history of Sino-Japanese economic relations, a presentation from Mr Harada (founder of the NGO “Joy in Action” - JIA), a visit to the Konica-Minolta factory in Shilong and an extensive visit (including performances) to Jianyu, a village supported by JIA.
Most people would consider organising an ambitious and successful international conference such as this to be well beyond the scope of 18 and 19 year olds. At United World Colleges such as ours, there is a strong tradition of students taking such initiatives. Indeed, in recent years, LPCUWC students have organised conferences to bring together young people from India and Pakistan, Iraq and the US, as well as various factions in the Philippines in addition to the Sino-Japan initiative.
To give some flavour of the wonderful week enjoyed by participants of the conference, I have uploaded a gallery of 45 images that can be viewed through the link HERE.
My next blog will be uploaded a little later than usual, and probably not before Sunday 22nd August. The reason is that I will be leaving tomorrow morning to lead a group of 21 students on a goodwill trip to North Korea, and we will not have any internet access during our time in North Korea.