The Foreign Affairs Office of Tongzhou District leveraged its role as a conduit and collaborated with the Tongzhou District Education Commission and Yong Le Dian High School to organize a youth delegation to the Republic of Korea (ROK). In the five-day trip from August 12 to 16, the group of 12 high school students engaged in in-depth cultural exchanges, contributing to the sister-city relation between Tongzhou district and Guro district and the practical cooperation in the education sector between the two sides.
The Guro district government held a welcome ceremony at the District Hall on the afternoon of August 12, receiving the youth delegation from Tongzhou District with warm hospitality. At the ceremony, Guro District Mayor Moon Hun-il welcomed the delegation and expressed his hope that the visiting students can have a memorable experience during this exchange. The two sides watched a promotional video about Guro together, which reviewed the history and achievements of the friendly exchanges between the two districts. The Tongzhou District International Education Exchange and Cooperation Center presented an overview of the educational development in Tongzhou, showcasing the features and strengths of Tongzhou’s education. Following the presentations, both sides exchanged cultural souvenirs, expressing their shared desire to further deepen friendship and strengthen cooperation.
In the following days, the youth delegation visited the National Folk Museum of Korea, Lotte World Tower, Cheonwang-dong Youth Culture House, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gocheok Sky Dome, and the Seoul Art Library to learn about the history, culture, and socio-economic development of the ROK. Students from both sides also engaged in a series of cultural exchange activities, sharing with and learning from each other through interactive events such as handicraft making, ROK cuisine cooking, yoga, and taekwondo. The ROK students prepared a wonderful dance performance to welcome the Tongzhou youth delegation, while the Tongzhou students brought exquisite gifts that showcased Chinese cultural elements, including hair sticks, cloud-patterned dragon-head vases, Chinese calligraphy brushes, creative bookmarks, and paper-cuttings. This further strengthened the friendship between the youths of the two countries.
Since establishing sister-city relationship in 2002, Tongzhou and Guro have actively conducted friendly exchanges in the educational and cultural sectors, achieving fruitful results. The Youth Exchanges Agreement signed by the two governments in 2010 and the Friendship School Agreement signed between Yong Le Dian High School and Yushin High School in 2019 built a robust bridge for communication between the youths of both districts, making the youth exchange and mutual visit event a signature program. So far, a total of 16 batches of nearly 200 youths from both countries have participated in the program, learning from and sharing with each other.
This visit not only broadened the international horizon of Tongzhou students and enhanced their cross-cultural communication abilities, but also marked a new chapter in the friendly and practical exchanges between Tongzhou district and Guro district after the COVID-19 pandemic, laying a solid foundation for long-term friendly cooperation. Moving forward, the Foreign Affairs Office of Tongzhou District will continue to leverage of its foreign affairs resources and sister-city relations, to promote external exchanges and practical cooperation in more sectors such as education, trade, and technology, thereby contributing its share to support the comprehensive opening-up of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center (BMC).
