China-US Pickleball Diplomacy builds lasting ties among students

Sports have continued to provide a unique channel for people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, with youth pickleball exchanges offering a vivid example of how person-to-person connections can build bridges between the two countries.

Earlier this year, a Maryland school district hosted a delegation of Chinese pickleball players, and shortly after, a group of young American athletes visited China.

Haley Corkery and William Massey are two of the 38 young athletes from Montgomery County, Maryland, who made the trip as part of the Pickleball Diplomacy initiative earlier this year. Over two weeks, the American delegation visited four cities in China.

Beyond the pickleball court, administrators say the program is designed to create educational ties between the American and Chinese teenagers through person-to-person connections.

"I have stayed connected with my friends from this year and the year before through WeChat and other different platforms. It's just so great getting to talk to them and just meeting people really across borders. And it's so interesting to hear. They ask me questions about school and about me, my summer, what I did every summer," said Corkery.

Now that the new school year has started in the U.S., and the teens are applying to college, they say their Pickleball Diplomacy trip has given them new ideas about what to study.

"I know that whatever I do study, it's going to have to be with some type of emphasis on international relationships and learning what really shapes these dynamics and how we can improve them and just connect more and more people together," Massey said.

The exchange went both ways, with a delegation of students from Shanghai visiting the United States a week before the American students traveled to China.

"What's been really cool on the U.S. side is to watch our schools get extremely excited about these visits to say, we're going to show them the best of our school, the best performances, the best classrooms, the best moments," said Jeffrey Sullivan, who leads the U.S. youth pickleball delegation from Montgomery County, Maryland.

School administrators are now looking for ways to expand the pickleball diplomacy program.

"It sets the tone globally. When you have United States and China working together, finding that common ground, it provides and helps set a stage where we can all find that peace. And work in that harmony, working together, we can build bridges, find common ground, build friendships. And those skills that we're learning through the diplomacy and our ambassadors are living out, they are taking that with them in their life. And that's going to make them better people," Sullivan said.

To further boost the people-to-people exchanges between two countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping said 100,000 young Americans will be invited to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years. He made the remarks Thursday morning at a welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.

China-US Pickleball Diplomacy builds lasting ties among students

Wild brown bears have frequently been spotted by visitors in the Greater Khingan Range, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, these days, especially along the forested sections of the National Highway 331.

Some adult brown bears have been seen strolling leisurely through the forest, while mother bears travel together with their adorable cubs.

Encountering wild brown bears while driving leaves visitors both surprised and delighted. Some stopped to take photos, while a few more daring tourists even got out of their vehicles to feed the bears. At times, the distance between the wild bears and the visitors was as little as three to five meters.

The frequent appearances of wild brown bears along the national highway are closely linked to their natural behavior.

Before hibernation, brown bears experience a feeding frenzy. They consume enormous amounts of food to build crucial fat reserve for winter. They often extend their foraging territory to forested areas along the highway to hunt for food.

The steady recovery of the brown bear population is a testament to the success of ecological conservation in the forest region. However, getting out of a vehicle to photograph brown bears is extremely dangerous.

"The presence of brown bears is a clear indication of improving ecology in the Greater Khingan Range. However, people are strongly advised not to feed them. Once bears associate humans and vehicles with food, they may begin stopping cars to beg for food, posing a serious safety risk," said Guo Wei, Party branch secretary of the local forest conservation bureau's emergency affairs center.

In response to the recent increase in brown bear activity, local forest police have stepped up patrols and management efforts, put up more warning signs and strengthened guard on crowded areas.

Brown bears frequently seen recently in Inner Mongolia