As the summer vacation approaches, some graduates from Beijing are going to study abroad. To better protect their safety, the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Municipal Commission of Education held a special online lecture for students studying abroad titled Consular Protection for Your Safety on July 10 under the guidance of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was a vivid and elaborate lecture on consular protection participated by nearly 500 would-be overseas students from Beijing. Zhang Yang, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Centre for Consular Assistance and Protection, and Li Hui, Deputy Director General of the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office, attended the activity.

In recent years, there have been frequent incidents against Asians, especially the Chinese community, in leading study destinations for Chinese students. How to raise safety awareness and maintain mental health therefore becomes what students must learn before they go abroad. Beijing Foreign Affairs Office organizes the Consular Protection Lecture to help those students from middle schools and municipal colleges or universities in Beijing. To protect the safety of students who will study abroad, a series of lectures were organized, which include case analyses, explanations and Q&A, to spread knowledge on consular protection to not only students but also their parents and teachers.

From multiple perspectives, the lecture focused on one topic.

In response to the concerns of teachers, students and parents, two experts on overseas safety and mental health were invited to deliver speeches. Wang Xuejun, an expert on international safety education from the Safety Education Commission of the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy, presented real-life cases to summarize overseas safety risks for students, analysed the causes of risks, and shared solutions in order to help increase students' safety awareness for studying abroad.

Li Tonggui, Director of the Training Department of the School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences of Peking University and Chief Psychologist for "Safely Studying Abroad" activities organized by the Ministry of Education, explained the post-traumatic growth during the pandemic, psychological adaptation to a different cultural environment, psychological symptom recognition and self-psychological adjustment methods to improve the students' stress and emotion management skills.

Covering multiple issues, Q&A helped to protect overseas safety.

After the lecture, two experts answered questions raised by teachers, students and parents, such as "What should overseas students take into consideration to protect their own safety?" "How to identify my emotional state?" "How to cope with negative emotions appropriately?". The wonderful and practical lecture was well received by teachers, students and parents.

"Safety is always the top priority when we study abroad. Only with safety can one learn knowledge and serve the motherland after graduation. I have benefited a lot from this lecture."

"When studying abroad, we must pay close attention to both physical and mental health, which is also the prerequisite and foundation for our all-round development. Thank you for this wonderful lecture!"

"The suggestions are really useful. Thank you for what you've shared! I hope that the lecture can be made into tutorials and put on the official website so that students who want to study abroad can watch them."

Zhang Yang said, "There are thousands of things students studying abroad should heed, but safety is the No.1 priority." Facing the complex situation of overseas security, we should regard ourselves as the first person responsible for our safety and take preventive measures to avoid unnecessary risks.

Overseas Chinese students are the focus of Beijing's consular protection work. It is an important task for Beijing Foreign Affairs Office to provide consular protection and assistance for overseas personnel from Beijing. Other experts in various fields will be invited to attend themed awareness-raising activities for the Consular Protection Lecture titled Consular Protection for Your Safety. The lecture will continue to provide more professional, more specific and more comprehensive knowledge on consular protection for the public and institutions, shoring up the overseas security defence line.