US students experience Chinese culture via technology in exchange event

A group of American teenagers on Wednesday had a close-up experience of China's fast-evolving technology sector, with a cultural twist, as part of a five-year initiative to bring 50,000 young people from the United States to study and exchange in China.

About 100 U.S. students paired up with their Chinese peers to visit the China Science and Technology Museum, where they interacted with the humanoid robot "Tiangong 3.0," and explored AI-powered holographic recreations and tried on traditional dress virtually with AI technology to experience traditional Chinese culture.

Mixed-reality installations allowed the students to experience ancient Chinese civilization in immersive form.

At the Digital Experience Hall of Chinese Civilization, the U.S. students engaged with the latest findings from China's archaeological research projects, using AI and digital tools to unlock the millennia-old Chinese culture.

Lee Lotovaivai, coach of the Lincoln High School football team, said the experience was unlike anything he had seen back home.

"We saw a little kid. We got to follow him around. He guided us to some hoops and throw it on an elephant. It felt really cool. It felt pretty realistic. I've never experienced anything like this. It was amazing first time. A lot of technology, we don't see a lot of this back home. So I think it's really cool to bring the kids out here and experience it for them and for us. And it would be cool to go back home and share it with the people back home," said Lotovaiwai.

Kasey Williams, a member of the Lincoln High School football team, said the trip offered him a deeper understanding of China's past.

"I've only watched like videos of seeing it, but actually being at the places and stuff like that has been really cool on the trip. I like it. It's really cool. It showed me a lot of like AI stuff and how it can work and actually make really cool things. And also this whole VR thing was pretty cool. It took me through like an ancient Chinese, like it looks like a house or something maybe or yeah area. It helped me get a better understanding of like the ancient culture," said Williams.

The event was part of the "50,000 in Five Years" initiative announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his 2023 visit to San Francisco in the United States, which aims to bring 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs over a five-year period to build a bridge to carry forward the friendship between the two peoples.

US students experience Chinese culture via technology in exchange event

US students experience Chinese culture via technology in exchange event

Flowers with novel appearances drew strong interest from visitors at this year's Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing, which ran from April 10 to 12.

With more Chinese consumers seeking products that offer emotional value, expo visitors were noticing not only traditional, beautiful flowers, but also those newer, more distinctive varieties.

Among the many blooms on display, those featuring widely recognized icons stood out as especially eye catching.

"This is the Psychopsis papilio, also known as 'Monkey King'. You can see that its flower has three tendrils, which vividly resembles the pheasant feathers worn by Monkey King," said Zha Niyi, an exhibitor, introducing the flower commonly known as the butterfly orchid.

Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, is from a classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng'en during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Monkey King has stood as one of the most iconic symbols of Chinese culture, embodying generations of Chinese people's imagination of a hero.

This growing consumer interest is also evident in the flowers' sales volumes. In 2025, China’s fresh-cut flower exports surged by over 40 percent, surpassing 200 million U.S. dollars for the first time. Over the past five years, the country's total flower exports have exceeded two billion U.S. dollars.

"This demonstrates that China's flower industry has a solid export base and strong production capacity with the approach of high-quality development," said Zhang Li, deputy director of the Market Circulation Branch of the China Flower Association.

As Chinese consumers become more willing to pay for experiences that generate positive emotions, visitors at the exhibition were increasingly drawn to flowers with cute names and auspicious meanings.

Consumers' growing desire for emotional fulfillment is also driving the wider development in the flower-consumption market. "A single flower can give rise to an entire industry and a whole sector," said Wang Caiyun, president of the Osmanthus Branch of the China Flower Association.

China has grown into the world's largest flower producer, a major consumer, and a leading trading country. Its flower economy now delivers annual output worth more than 520 billion yuan (about 76.16 billion U.S. dollars), driving employment and income growth for more than 220,000 business entities.

Novel flowers catch eyes at Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing