China
International figures commit to telling China’s stories and promoting friendship
By Tao Xing  ·  2021-09-26  ·   Source: Web Exclusive


A symposium held in Beijing on September 25 discusses President Xi Jinping’s reply to the families of China’s international friends (TAO XING)

With their deep knowledge of China, expats can help make the country better understood in the international community, representatives said at a symposium in Beijing on September 25.  

"I am pleased at the progress China has made," Kyoko Nakamura, a Japanese nurse who has been living in China since the 1940s, said. "My family and I will continue to make new contributions to enhancing people’s bonds between China and foreign countries." 

Nakamura joined the Communist Party of China (CPC)-led army in 1945, shortly after Japan declared its surrender in World War II. Her late husband Hans Muller, a German doctor, also served in the CPC-led armed forces. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, they continued to work in the medical field, while bearing witness to the country’s transformation across the board. 

The symposium was hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), a national organization engaged in people-to-people diplomacy, to discuss President Xi Jinping’s reply to a recent letter sent to him by the family members of several international friends. 

Xi paid tribute to them in his reply sent on September 14, saying that China has always remembered their invaluable contributions and earnest friendship toward the CPC and the Chinese people, and will always cherish their memory.  

"The reply showed how deeply the Chinese people and President Xi himself care about friendship. The Chinese nation knows how to reciprocate gratitude," CPAFFC President Lin Songtian said at the symposium.  

"We are not alone as we forge ahead, and history has proven that the choice of international friends to work with us is a correct one," Lin added. 

Zhou Youma, son of American-Lebanese doctor George Hatem, said the international community should hear not only about the stories of China’s international friends, but also about the Chinese people’s devotion to world peace and development. Hatem, known as Ma Haide in China, was the first Westerner approved to become a CPC member and obtain Chinese citizenship. 

"I was touched by those predecessors' stories," Roxane McMichael, a French student at Beijing Bailie University, said at the meeting. “I, too, would like to help promote the friendship between China and foreign countries.” The university is one of the schools founded by Rewi Alley (1897-1987), a New Zealand-born writer, social reformer and educator who spent 60 years of his life working in China. 

Lin said the CPAFFC will transform itself into a platform telling the many stories of China, featuring the tales of international friends. 

The CPAFFC will take a series of initiatives in their honor such as sculpting their statues and delivering their stories to younger generations, Lin added.  

Recently, 16 family members of international figures who contributed to China’s revolution and development, including U.S. journalist Edgar Snow, Hatem and Alley, jointly sent a letter to President Xi. 

In their letter, they extended their congratulations on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and expressed their hopes to commemorate those who have gone before them. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon  

Comments to taoxing@bjreview.com 

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