A China-U.S. youth basketball gathering recently wrapped up at a middle school in Chongqing, in southwest China, where youngsters from both nations built cross-cultural connections and celebrated the joy of sports and competition.
The event brought together 46 young female athletes from 10 different schools in the Sacramento region, along with participants from six high schools in Chongqing.
During the five-day event, students deepened mutual understanding and camaraderie on the basketball court, forging stronger friendships.
"We're playing against like the high school and national competition teams. The games are very good, very competitive. They play very fast pace basketball. Guys are very aggressive. I like that. I think it's good for us younger girls to come out and experience different play style," said Selai Niu, one of the students.
The American students, who were visiting China for the first time, also took part in traditional Chinese cultural activities including printmaking design, flower arrangement, rubbings, and Peking Opera face painting.
Student Natalie Moon Afong said that she had made many friends during the trip.
"I love it here and the people. I think everyone's very welcoming and the culture in general, the food is delicious. All of it is so good. And honestly, I want to come back again. It's so beautiful here and I just can't wait to keep exploring and seeing more of the city. I've already made so many friends at the school and adding them on WeChat is so fun and talking to them, it's really interesting. Even though there's a language barrier, like it's just the fact that we're all young and we can all get along that's really makes it really enjoyable to talk to them," said Afong.
The American students also visited the Stilwell Museum in Chongqing and went on field trips to emerging enterprises in sectors such as biomedicine and artificial intelligence.
"The only thing we see is like AI online and like the videos but seeing it in person is really interesting and it opens like a new horizon. I think it's really fun. It like opens like a portal to a new universe and like seeing all the robots walk around and that's really cool. It's like seeing something that you've never seen before," said Emily Carlson, a student.
"I can see that with the emerging of robotic AI plus the biotech research power that China has, and then probably new product will come online faster and it will benefit not only in China, probably the world populations," said Antonio Yung, an envoy from the California Capital-Sacramento China Office.
Chinese, U.S. youths forge friendship through sports
