Under Beijing's blazing sun yesterday, 1,123 Taiwanese students cheered the opening of the 2005 Summer Camp and waved their flags at Zhongshan Park.

Most of the students from the island attending the 15-day summer camp, organized by the All China Taiwanese Association, are university students.

"It's my first time here," said Xu Yuanhao, a 20-year-old student from Taipei. "Everything looks exciting."

Although he broke his leg a few days before the trip and is temporarily confined to a wheelchair, Xu insisted on attending.

"Besides the historical sights here, what I'm interested in most is the 2008 Olympic Games," Xu said. "Before we leave Beijing, the trip organizing committee will be presenting free trips to Beijing in 2008 to 100 camp members. I hope I'm lucky!"

Part of the camp program includes visits to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo, and Peking, Tsinghua and Renmin universities. The students will also visit the Memorial Hall of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

In related news, another group of students from Taiwan are in Beijing for the Sixth Beijing-Taiwan Youth Week sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office.

Tsai Yifen, 18, from Taipei, who will fly her self-made rocket in a competition with Beijing high school students on Saturday, said the event would help her make mainland friends.

"We have the same interests and the same language," she said. "I feel comfortable talking with them."

The Beijing students are equally at ease.

Li Chen, 16, of the No. 159 Middle School who is a student tour guide, told Li Yiping, 16, from Taiwan: "We have the same surname. We're one family."

(China Daily July 12, 2005)