Realities of similarities hit home with Taiwan youths(2)

Southern sojourn

Ma and the Taiwan youths stayed for three days in Guangdong province, the forefront of China's reform and opening-up, and visited high-profile technology companies, including the internet giant Tencent, China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, and drone manufacturer DJI.

At BYD's exhibition hall, Ma had a chance to inspect the company's most advanced technology and products. He posed many questions to BYD executives about the development of electric vehicles on the mainland.

For example, he repeatedly asked about the mainland's policies to encourage people to use electric vehicles including which one was the most effective.

The Taiwan youths took selfies in front of different types of new energy concept car models, with some half-jokingly declaring they wanted "to drive one home".

A visit to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge also appeared to leave the Taiwan students in awe. At the exchange event at Sun Yat-sen University, two Taiwan youths said in their speeches that they were impressed by the expanse, the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

Tang Yi-xiang from the Taiwan Ocean University, said of the highlights: "I was most interested in the world's most spectacular cross-sea bridge, because my major is river and ocean engineering."

"The bridge not only shortens the distance between the three places but is also a great showcase of the mainland's engineering technology to the world," Tang added.

Wan Yu-ming, a first-year graduate student from Taiwan's Sun Yatsen University, said: "We can see the result of how the central and local governments coordinated to ensure the quality of the project and guarantee its smooth completion."

Experiencing history

The Taiwan students not only got a chance to witness advanced transportation infrastructure on the mainland, but also to travel on it and gain an understanding of the vast distances it covers. During their high-speed rail trip from Xi'an, Shaanxi, to Beijing, I heard some of the Taiwan students remarking on how big the mainland is. "It's been more than four hours and we still haven't arrived," one declared.

Even on the world's fastest high-speed rail, it takes an entire afternoon to travel from Xi'an to Beijing, a fact which the Taiwan visitors were beginning to grasp.

Their firsthand exposure to two capitals — the ancient one and the current one — gave them the opportunity to better understand the unique culture and history of the Chinese nation.

In Shaanxi, which is rich in Chinese historical sites, Ma and the Taiwan youths participated in a worship ceremony for Emperor Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor, and visited the Terracotta Warriors and Shaanxi History Museum.

The Taiwan students were awestruck when they saw the Terracotta Warriors for themselves.

One of the students, Wan Yu-ming, said: "It's much bigger than I have imagined. I have only seen it in textbooks before, but now I'm here in person, and it's really impressive".

Seven of the Taiwan youths raised their phones to take selfies in front of the Terracotta Warriors. They discussed the style of helmets worn by soldiers more than 2,000 years ago, and were amazed by ancient Chinese craftsmanship.

"We have seen these elegant and solemn collections and experienced the 5,000-year civilization of Chinese culture firsthand. We are all very delighted," Ma said at the end of the Shaanxi visit.

The young people from Taiwan accompanying him all felt that they had gained a lot, he added

"They have seen the long history of Chinese culture in Shaanxi, and it will definitely have a very profound impact on their future lives," Ma said,

"Chinese civilization is the only ancient civilization in the world that has not been interrupted," he said. "Thousands of years of writing have been passed down to this day, and we, the descendants of Emperor Yandi and Emperor Huangdi, can still read it. It's amazing."

Taiwan youth group leader Liu Ping-jui said the Terracotta Warriors helped him visualize the strength of the Qin army 2,000 years ago. "As descendants of Emperor Yandi and Emperor Huangdi, seeing these things, we are deeply moved, and grateful that our ancestors left behind this wisdom, and passed down such a good culture to us."