"Youth Power" Invites Cross-Straits Gen Zers to Share a Bright Future: We are Always One Family

BEIJING,Sept. 5,2022 -- On August 30,2022,"More Than Nostalgia Crosses The Strait",the third episode of the global "Gen Z" new media program "Youth Power" season two,planned and launched by the "Gen Z" studio of China Daily,premiered. The program is a special production of China Daily's"Pilot Project".

"My homesickness is a shallow strait. I am here. The mainland is there." With the Mid-Autumn Festival just around the corner,the program invites Gen Zers from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to Quanzhou,Fujian Province,which is to the northwest of Taiwan Island,for a heartwarming reunion trip to feel each other's deep-seated nostalgia. Gen Zers from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the United States also joined the program to talk about "people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits belonging to the same family".

Through open-hearted exchanges,young people from the mainland and Taiwan have improved their understanding of each other and found more empathy. Gen Zers from different provinces in China chat enthusiastically in their native dialects. Although Sichuan dialect,Cantonese,Nanchang dialect,Minnan dialect and Taiwan dialect are different in accents,there are no barriers when communicating face to face and heart to heart. Though separated by the shallow Strait,Chinese compatriots maintain centuries-old kinship.

"The deep nostalgia for the motherland has become the names of the streets in Taiwan. Every road here is the way back home." Chen Simo,a Taiwanese student at Shanghai International Studies University,shares the story behind naming Taiwan streets after mainland cities. She believes that using the same language on both sides of the Taiwan Straits fully shows that our culture is of the same origin. "As descendants of the Yellow Emperor,the Strait cannot separate our closely linked hearts in the past,nor can it in the future."

However,in the face of the "actions" taken by the Taiwan authorities in recent years in the field of education,Gen Zers on both sides of the Taiwan Straits express their confusion and regret.

Wang Yuecheng,a youth from Shanghai,believes that education should tell the true history in the right way. "Only by having a clear understanding of our nation's genes and roots can we gain a proper self-identity,cooperate with our fellow comtatriots who experience the same with us,and build a better home together in the future."

Zhong Yutong,a youth from Jiangxi province,calls on people to remember history and take it as a mirror. This is not only the consensus of the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits but also the voice of people with global vision.

He also calls on more Americans to study Chinese history and experience Chinese culture firsthand.

Among smiling faces and sincere exchanges,Gen Zers on both sides of the Taiwan Straits reaches a consensus: realizing the complete reunification of the motherland is the country's deep call,the nation's ardent desire,and the common aspiration of all the Chinese people.

"My wish is simple,to take the high-speed train to Taiwan. I hope that when I go to Taiwan,I can take a high-speed train around Taiwan. The scenery there must be beautiful." Wang Yuecheng sincerely hopes.

Jiang Yang,a youth from Hong Kong,expects more young people from Taiwan to join the exchange program in the future because "the mainland,Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan are one family". Zhang Enshuo,a young Taiwanese,hopes to deepen mutual understanding and bring the two sides closer. Lin Hanting,also from Taiwan,says: "My only wish is that people from Taiwan and the mainland can reach out their hands and embrace each other to better build our common motherland."

Zheng Yaling,a Taiwanese student at Hunan University,says she enjoys her life and cherishes her experience on the mainland. She believes that culture can transcend time,space and place. "We are compatriots of the same root and origin so we need to build the Chinese dream together. The motherland will be stronger only when we are united."

"Youth Power" is a new media program with Gen Zers at home and abroad as the main subject,aiming to build a new platform for communication and exchange. Through the combination of online and offline activities,the program organizes global Gen Zers to focus on global hot spots in the form of interviews,forums and speeches so that young people from all countries can express their voice of age and contribute their youthful strength to the cause of human progress. Since its premiere in June 2021,it has been followed,spread and forwarded by many people across the globe. At present,the first season has ended,and the second season is on the hit.