Taiwanese student Yang Wen-ming was surprised to see the modern look of mainland cities when he came here to study two years ago.
He found what he saw on the mainland quite different from what he had learned about the mainland from media reports in Taiwan.
"My first impression was that they (the Taiwanese media) may have failed to objectively reflect the real mainland in their reports," Yang tells China Daily.
"In my eyes, the mainland's economic and social problems appear not as serious as the Taiwanese media had exaggerated."
Over the past two years, while studying at Jinan-based Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine University, Yang has managed to visit many places on the mainland.
"The more places I visit, the more deeply I realize how little I know about the mainland," he says.
That feeling was shared by most of the 1,200 Taiwanese college students who attended a four-day summer camp in Beijing last week.
The event was organized by the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and attracted students from Taiwan, the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and elsewhere.
Before attending the summer camp which ended on Saturday, the students participated in various exchange programmes held in 20 provinces and municipalities.
The summer camp for young people from Taiwan has been held annually since 1984. It was temporarily suspended last year after the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
Yang Guoqing, president of the federation, believes the summer camp enhances communication and friendship between people on both sides of the Straits.
"By continuously holding such an event we hope to give Taiwanese young people an opportunity to have an extensive visit to the mainland and conduct close face-to-face exchanges with their mainland counterparts," he says.
"I deeply believe Taiwanese students learn more and gain a greater understanding about our beloved common motherland as well as our nation's splendid cultural heritages, fine traditions and modernization achievements."
Li Jiaquan, a senior researcher with the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, thinks highly of the cross-Straits exchange programme.
"It is extremely necessary to strengthen exchanges among the young people from both sides, given Taipei's attempts to sever cultural bonds between Taiwan and the mainland," he says.
Causing harm
The pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party administration led by Taiwan "leader" Chen Shui-bian has been promoting a "de-Sinofication" policy in ideology, culture, history and education.
With the acquiescence of Taiwan authorities, separatist forces on the island are sparing no efforts advocating a pro-independence culture on the island, aimed at cutting off cultural links between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
The Taiwanese students, who are the main target of the "de-Sinofication" campaign, have less and less access to Chinese history and culture even in their textbooks.
For instance, Taiwan's "ministry of education" has taken advantage of high school history lessons to pursue independence for the island.
According to its guidelines for high school textbooks, Chinese history from the 1500s onwards -- including the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the "Republic of China" (1912-49) -- has been incorporated into modern world history.
Li describes the plan to rewrite Taiwanese history as the tip of the iceberg of flagrant advocacy of separatism through cultural measures.
"The separatist forces are trying every means to promote a pro-independence culture in a bid to sever cultural and historical links between the island and the Chinese mainland," he says.
"We should stay alert about their plotting because a distorted culture will exert a harmful influence on the whole society."
The researcher suggests the mainland take positive and urgent steps to encourage more close exchanges between people of both sides of the Straits.
He stresses the Taiwanese public, especially the younger generation, should be given more opportunities to learn about the mainland and the cultural links that bond people in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
"That is because the support of the island's younger generation is vital for our goal of seeking peaceful reunification," Li said.
As quite a large number of the summer camp participants were first-time visitors to Beijing, the organizers carefully arranged the students' schedules so that they were able to see both the historical and modern side of the capital city.
During the four-day event the Taiwanese students toured Beijing's world heritage sites and scenic spots such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.
They also visited the Beijing Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Area, Beijing-based factories of Nokia and Coca-Cola and the Olympic Forest Park for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The summer camp organizers also invited Shu Yi, son of late renowned writer Lao She, and Professor Li Yan from Tsinghua University to give lectures about Chinese literature and civilization.
Professor Li's lectures covered a wide range of traditional cultural topics including the tea culture, calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, Zen Buddhism and Confucianism.
To Professor Li's delight, his speech won wide applause from the Taiwanese attendants who broke into laughter several times when the professor shared Chinese-style anecdotes with them.
"Their appreciation of traditional Chinese culture strongly suggests that people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits share the same cultural origin," Professor Li says.
"As long as we try our best to promote across-Straits cultural exchanges, it would be difficult for the separatist forces to erase Chinese culture from the minds of these young people."
Exchange for understanding
Mavies Lin, a 22-year-old graduate from the island's Sun Yat-sen University, says more such programmes will undoubtedly benefit Taiwanese youths' understanding of the mainland.
She travelled to other mainland cities in 2001 and 2002, but this marked her first visit to Beijing.
"Before I came here I had never imagined the city was so beautiful, although I once read lots of books about it," she says.
"I will encourage more of my friends and classmates in Taiwan to visit the mainland because my personal experience has proved that it is better to see for yourself than to hear about it."
Lin admits that most of the Taiwanese public, including young people, lack knowledge and understanding about the mainland.
Although Taiwanese travellers paid more than 3.66 million visits to the mainland in 2002 and 2.73 million last year, most of the island's 23 million people have never visited the mainland.
The Taiwanese college students know comparatively more about the mainland, but their knowledge comes mostly from school textbooks and media reports, according to Lin.
"Taiwanese young people of my age, namely those in their 20s, were taught a lot about Chinese history and culture during our middle school days," she says. "So it is not a problem for us to recognize the unbreakable cultural links between Taiwan and the mainland."
Lin, however, expresses concern that the much younger generation on the island might fail to follow suit because the amount of Chinese culture and history taught in middle school has been sharply reduced.
The traditional Chinese culture, from which the Taiwanese culture originated, has already been defined as just one of the "foreign cultures" that have influenced the islands' aboriginal culture.
"Nobody can tell exactly what will happen in the future if such a trend is allowed to continue on the island," says Lin.
She adds that more cross-Straits exchanges can, to some degree, offset the harm done by the rampant spread of pro-independence culture.
"At least those who have visited the mainland like me can influence the Taiwanese people around them to help more people on the island look at the mainland in a fair way," Lin says.
Professor Wu Chyung-en of the Department of Public Administration of Taiwan's Chengchi University, warns that the aftermath of the ongoing "cultural independence bid" should not be underestimated.
The professor led dozens of colleges students from his university to participate in the summer camp.
"The promotion of the 'de-Sinofication' policy and pro-independence culture has met with strong opposition from mainstream public opinion and the academic community," Professor Wu says.
"But that does not mean we should sit idly by the pro-independence scheme, which tends to create ideological confusion among the Taiwanese public, especially the young people."
What's worse, he says, the separatist forces on the island are going all out to tarnish the image of the mainland through presenting only the negative side of the mainland's economic and social development.
He points out that encouraging mainland visits by Taiwanese young people serves as one of the best ways to offer a clear picture of the mainland.
"Face-to-face exchanges and communications are always more useful than political instruction," Professor Wu says while lauding the humanistic touch of this year's exchange programme.
All the summer camp participants were deeply impressed by the friendly and hospitable treatment from the organizers.
During the event, 101 of the Taiwanese students were chosen at random to be guests at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
At the closing ceremony of the summer camp, 18 participants who celebrated birthdays over the four days were surprised with flowers and cake.
The birthday party came to the climax when the participants sang and danced while chanting: "We are the descendants of the nation of Dragon and we will join our efforts to build a stronger Chinese nation."
"Short as the summer camp was, it will last a long time in our memories," says Mavies Lin.
(China Daily July 22, 2004)
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