New horizons of youth exchanges

Closer interactions between young people from China and the US could foster understanding and open new possibilities for a shared future

About 27 years ago, Ronald Sakolsky from the United States, who was teaching in China, raised and donated $5,000 to Chinese farmer Yin Yuzhen in support of her fight against desertification in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. In his recent visit to China and reunion with Yin, he saw for himself more than 50,000 trees flourishing in the area thanks to the tree-planting efforts he helped support. Their story shows how China-US people-to-people exchanges can make tangible contributions to a shared future.

Among the many forms of people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, youth exchanges are particularly promising. China will invite 100,000 young people from the US to visit China for exchanges and studies over the next five years. The initiative builds on China's 2023 invitation for 50,000 US youths to China over the following five years, further expanding opportunities for young people from the two countries to meet and learn from one another.

The initiative is particularly significant because young people can bring new possibilities to intercultural engagement, beyond traditional forms of people-to-people exchanges. After all, young people often find it easier to connect with an unfamiliar culture through shared interests. I understood this when I visited Shangyou county in East China's Jiangxi province in early September.

Before going there, I had never imagined that this small, mountainous county with green landscape would become such a lively setting for China-US youth exchanges. In February, 38 US youths and seven teachers visited Shangyou for the third China-US Youth Pickleball Friendship Tournament. In May, young players from Utah Tech University and the Oregon Friendship Pickleball Delegation visited Shangyou for the 2026 China-US Friendship Pickleball Event.

Why Shangyou? This is interesting. Pickleball originated in the US in the 1960s and has grown rapidly in popularity in China in recent years. Shangyou, meanwhile, has a well-developed fiberglass industry that supplies material for pickleball equipment, while local authorities and businesses have been cultivating a broader pickleball ecosystem through tournaments, training and sports tourism. The foundations were therefore already in place for young people from across the Pacific to visit this small Chinese county and play the sport.

Once a shared interest such as pickleball brings US youths to China, the surrounding landscape, food and local traditions can offer further reasons to explore the country. In fact, Ryan Corkery, a participant from the US in the pickleball exchange in February, returned to Shangyou in August after being invited by Lai Houjie, a young local man, and gained a deeper understanding of the area. Such stories remind me how a game can be the starting point of an exchange, without having to be its endpoint.

It brings to mind the Ping-Pong Diplomacy of 55 years ago. In 1971, nine members of the US table tennis team visited China and became important participants in the resumption of people-to-people contact between the two countries. Their visit later became an important chapter in the thawing of China-US relations. Today, 70-year-old Judy Hoarfrost, the youngest member of the 1971 US delegation, continues that connection as head of the Oregon Friendship Pickleball Delegation, which took part in the May exchange in Shangyou.

Pickleball may not carry the same historical significance today as table tennis did in 1971. But it reminds us that youth exchanges do not necessarily have to begin with the broader issue of China-US relations. A sport, a shared meal, a journey or even a casual conversation can open the door to a better understanding of another culture.

Young people today have even more ways in which to engage with other cultures. Social networking platforms have made intercultural interaction less dependent on face-to-face visits. The "Becoming Chinese", or "Chinamaxxing" trend, that spread across TikTok and other social media platforms earlier this year offers an interesting example. Some young people in the US and other countries began sharing everyday practices associated with Chinese culture, such as drinking boiled water, having rice porridge and wearing slippers indoors. The trend does not necessarily represent deep cultural identification, but it does show that youths in the US are engaging with Chinese culture in increasingly informal ways.

More importantly, exchange can change the way people see one another. A report released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in August, drawing on data from its 2025 survey, found that 34 percent of Gen Z youth in the US view China's rise as a "critical threat" to the US, the lowest share among all generations. Meanwhile, 59 percent of Gen Z respondents and 58 percent of millennials favored a policy of friendly cooperation and engagement with China. Such figures suggest that youth in the US offer greater potential for positive engagement with China, and that more sustained, real-life contact may create greater space for mutual understanding.

Exchanges between young people in China and the US can expand horizons for both sides. As a member of Gen Z myself, I have a friend in the US who is about my age. Over the past five years, we have met twice in Beijing and stayed in touch through WeChat. During our most recent meeting, he told me about teaching in Mongolia, where he met his wife, traveling to China with his parents and siblings, and returning to the US to pursue a master's degree. At one point, I realized that I was not simply getting to know a US citizen. I was trying to look at some familiar things through his eyes. Perhaps that is one of the most valuable things youth exchange can offer: the chance to temporarily stand in another person's place and see the world differently.

China-US youth exchanges can also open new horizons for the future of the world. China hopes to work with countries around the world, including the US, to build a more peaceful, prosperous and beautiful world. Such a vision becomes more concrete and meaningful when it is experienced through real encounters between peoples. A shared future will not come about automatically, but it can begin with a sport, a journey, a friendship or just a young person willing to listen carefully to another young person's story.

The author is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.