A group of Chinese and U.S. students visited Hebi City in central China’s Henan Province from Thursday to Saturday as part of the "2026 U.S. Youth Pickleball Cultural Exchange Trip to China," a program aimed at fostering cultural connections and mutual understanding beyond the pickleball court.
Running from February 15 to 24, the trip involves over 190 youth participants from both countries engaging in inter-school exchanges, pickleball matches, and cultural visits in four locations, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, Shangyou in Jiangxi Province, Hebi in Henan Province, and Beijing.
During their stay in Hebi's Xunxian County on Friday, one of China’s oldest walled cities, students participated in traditional activities such as stilt walking and lion dance to celebrate the Spring Festival, gaining firsthand experience of the region's vibrant culture.
"How, you know, we're in a big crowd, we're hootin' and hollerin', and then we step through this gate and it's peace. It's so amazing. It's a sudden change that I've never experienced anywhere else, and for that, it's beautiful," said Ryan Corkery, a U.S. student.
In workshops led by local artisans, participants explored Spring Festival calligraphy and traditional clay sculpture -- intangible cultural heritage crafts passed down through generations in the region.
"Today in Hebi, wow, that’s all I can say. From the grand entrance to seeing the city, to coming and engaging in arts and crafts, having a lunch literally in town and enjoying the local cuisine. It just really allows us to understand the open-up and learn culture," said Dr. Jeffrey Sullivan, director of Systemwide Athletics at Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.
A pickleball match took place on Saturday at a local sports center in Hebi, fostering mutual respect between Chinese and U.S. students through friendly competition.
US, Chinese students connect through pickleball cultural exchange in central China city
Nobel laureate in economics Michael Spence said he views U.S. President Donald Trump's high-profile visit to China last week as beneficial, stressing that a mix of cooperation and competition is the most pragmatic path forward amid ongoing global geopolitical uncertainties.
The 2001 Nobel prize winner shed his light on China-U.S. relations on the sidelines of this year's Tsinghua PBCSF Global Finance Forum held in Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province with the theme "Global Financial Governance in a Changing World."
Although Spence, an American, has been critical of the U.S. president and the economic uncertainty surrounding his policy decisions, he emphasized that efforts to carry out high-level diplomacy should always be welcome.
"People are starting to say that the Trump administration does things that are either unconventional or on slightly less polite terms. It seems to understand that with China, a big powerful country and economy, you have to deal with that pragmatically. China can't be pushed around," he said.
Trump concluded a three-day state visit to China on Friday. This is the first U.S. presidential visit to China in almost nine years, after President Xi previously hosted Trump in Beijing in November 2017.
During the visit, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on Thursday, agreeing on a new vision for building constructive China-U.S. relations with strategic stability.
The two leaders also engaged in candid, in-depth, constructive and strategic communication on major issues concerning world peace and development, exploring a proper way for the two major countries to coexist and reach a series of consensuses.
For Spence, the historic meeting is positive for the world's largest economies to find out how to get along with each other.
"So less confrontation, more kind of a realistic combination of respect, competition, some element of cooperation and so on. So in that sense, I think the mature view of the meeting is that it was a good thing," he said.
Nobel laureate in economics sees positive movement in Trump's China visit
Nobel laureate in economics sees positive movement in Trump's China visit
