From June 28 to July 6 a youth camp was held in the city of Chengdu of the People’s Republic of China. Also, the results of the international videos contest of Association of Universities of ''Volga-Yangtze'' were announced there. 40 Russian students, 22 media groups, including the Minin University student television team “Minin STV”, participated in this event.
The contest included two stages. At the first stage participants were asked to make a video about the power and historical appearance of two rivers (Russian participants were to prepare a video about the Volga and Chinese students about the Yangtze River). After that the audience chose the best videos.
The second stage took place in China. Contest works at this stage were evaluated by a jury commission. The votes were summed up and the winners were announced at the closing ceremony.
Students of the Faculty of Humanities Igoshina Kristina, Smelkov Fedor and Nikishina Ekaterina won the 3rd place in this international videos contest about the culture of Russia and China. The video of our team was dedicated to the beauties of their native city - Nizhny Novgorod. Our students read a poem by the young poet Dmitry Stepanov “On the Volga - River” during sunset on Nizhnevolzhskaya Embankment.
An extensive program was organized for the participants of the contest as part of the youth camp. Students visited excursions, learned about the culture of the Middle Kingdom, Sichuan cuisine and, of course, talked to the locals.
The cultural program included excursions to the largest Chengdu City Museum, craft shops and small shops in the historic street of Chunxi. Students got to know the history of stomatology at the Medical Museum of the Institute "Huashi", saw endless rice fields, vine plantations at the Cultivation Base of Sichuan Agricultural University, tasted traditional food at the Sichuan Cuisine Museum, and, of course, could not help but visited the Jinsha Ruins museum where you can see the old city and archaeological artifacts right under your feet.
Sichuan province is famous for the largest Base for the study and reproduction of pandas in the world. Every first souvenir in Chengdu is associated with these animals. Students went to the reserve early in the morning in order to see these black and white animals during breakfast and while they were active. Because of the heat pandas come out to people only before lunch.
Everyone was impressed by the campus areas of Sichuan University, Southwestern University of Railway Transport, University of Electronic Technology, Southwestern Financial University, and Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Fedor Smelkov, group FS-18, Faculty of Humanities:
I was very happy when I learned that I was going to China. We could not even imagine it when we were filming our contest video! But after a certain amount of time and paperwork we landed in the city of Chengdu. The first thing that we felt immediately was climate. It was very hot and humid and without air conditioners in transport and shops it could have been really difficult to stay there. The second thing that impressed us was people who were very polite, responsive and kind. I am talking not only about volunteers who we spent a lot of time with, but also about locals who we met on the street and who helped us find the way or rent a bicycle. The third that I’d like to mention is that streets were very clean, people cared for the environment. We saw a huge amount of green areas among high stone skyscrapers.
I would like separately mention the high organizational level of the youth camp: a clear daily activity plan, organized lunches in restaurants, transfer by bus to excursions and volunteer help from Chinese students. Sichuan cuisine is the hottest in China, but nevertheless, through long “negotiations” with waiters you can ask for a less spicy dish. We really liked universities’ campuses. They were like small towns with their own infrastructure and beautiful nature. I was greatly impressed with this gorgeous city in this amazing country and its wonderful citizens.
We would like to express our deep gratitude to Sichuan University, Association of Universities of ''Volga-Yangtze'' for such an excellent organization, varied program and excellent interaction with guests from Russia! We look forward to further cooperation and to new meetings.
