Crossing mountains and seas, meeting in Jiangnan. On July 23, the 2024 Fourth Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu.

As the lights came on, a song of friendship that transcends time and space, "A Friend Like You", kicked off the entire evening.

Music is the eternal common language of young people. A classic melody and a few beating beats can transcend time and space, cross barriers, cross cultures, and bring people closer together. "How lucky I am to have a friend like you", the opening song and dance expressed the weight of friendship with a familiar melody, and is also a vivid interpretation of the intention of the Youth Cultural Month on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is the call of friendship and the purest connection between people that make the "Cultural Month" a "bridge of hearts" for exchanges and interactions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The programs of this opening ceremony were all created and performed by young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Afterwards, the band rock show "In the Name of Summer" presented by Taiwan's classic group Nan Quan Mama and mainland singer Liu Laisi adapted and sang a medley of popular rock songs and classic folk songs from young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, igniting the stage of "Cultural Month" by promoting integration through "music".

Over the past four years, "Cultural Month" has focused on youth groups on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and, with culture as the bond, has launched a series of grand events for young people. They have crossed the strait and rushed here, inspiring creativity and promoting exchanges in the process of getting to know each other, and establishing friendships and building consensus through empathy and integration.

Meeting Xinguang: A "city linkage" inside and outside the venue

The venue was full of excitement and the outside was also very lively. In Shishan Square, a "Shishan Market" with the theme of "National Trend" attracted many people to check in.

The past is settled, and the new light is ushered in. This year, for the first time, the "Shishan Market" was included as an important part of the "Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month", bringing a special summer experience to the citizens of Suzhou and the Taiwanese youth who came from afar.

As one of the most fashionable lifestyles at present, the "Shishan Market" is based on cross-strait elements, and has set up food tasting areas, national style experience areas, intangible cultural heritage handmade areas, cultural and creative display areas, theme check-in areas, fun entertainment areas, etc., so that young people from both sides of the strait can experience the characteristics of different regions in one stop. In addition to the characteristic stall owners from both sides of the strait, some Internet KOLs have joined the market. During the connection, Jiangsu Radio and Television host Sun Yanwan not only discovered the special tea drinks from Taiwan, ate blind box ice cream, and saw the traditional Suzhou embroidery incorporating the new Chinese style, but also interacted with Taiwanese dancer Harry across the border. Afterwards, a cross-time and space dance battle started on the stage. The Dream Builder Dance Troupe from Taiwan and the Suzhou Street Dance Alliance from Suzhou performed the "Super Time and Space Street Dance" that ignited the whole audience.

The live connection between the venue and the audience, and the interaction between the stage and the audience, are the first in the "Cultural Month". "We fully utilize the outdoor market and the newly completed main stage of the Shishan Grand Theater, and give full play to the advantages of Jiangsu Radio and Television Station in large-scale project planning, content production, multimedia presentation and all-media communication, to form a real-time linkage between the venue and the audience, so that the youth on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially the Taiwanese youth who come to the mainland for the first time, can stimulate empathy and resonance in the atmosphere of the Cross-Strait Youth Cultural Month series of activities with real experience and real feelings," said Zhu Xu, the general director of the evening party, in an interview.

Creating a better future together: a heart-to-heart exchange of ideas

Culture nourishes the heart and connects the two sides. At the opening ceremony, four Taiwanese youths shared their life experiences and growth in the mainland of China. They came from Taiwan, took root in Suzhou, and gained their own careers, love and families here, along with a long-lasting friendship and a strong sense of belonging.

Tan Zhiwen from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, started with a small cup of milk tea, then opened a small shop, and then opened milk tea shops all over the world, becoming a successfully listed milk tea CEO. The major brands under the Nine Dragon Balls he founded have more than 1,000 stores around the world. "The market space and market prospects in the mainland are so huge. No matter what industry you are in, even if it is a small cup of milk tea, it still has a broad sky to develop." Since 2004, Tan Zhiwen has been involved in the entrepreneurial journey for 20 years, which has made him feel a lot. In his opinion, the mainland of the motherland is a hotbed for doing business and entrepreneurship, and it is also the best place to ignite his fighting spirit of "only hard work can win".

As the fourth-generation successor of Chung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals in Taiwan, Wang Houjie took over the baton of entrepreneurship in Suzhou from his father. "At that time, our factory was built in the High-tech Zone, and the factory gate was right opposite the current theater. When our fathers set up the factory, this place was dusty and full of construction sites, but now, around this big theater, tall buildings stand tall and neon lights flash." He came to the mainland at the age of 3. Now he has not only become the youngest director of Suzhou Chung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals, but also witnessed the rapid changes in Suzhou.

Hundreds of boats finally converge into the sea; thousands of mountains and rivers cannot stop love.

Taipei girl Chen Xiaowen is already an old friend of "Cultural Month". Today, she brought her lover to the stage for the first time. She said that many of her "firsts" in life are related to the city of Suzhou. She was the first batch of Taiwanese beauticians and hairdressers in Suzhou, the first Taiwanese skilled talent in Suzhou, and the first Taiwanese to receive a Taiwan Resident Residence Permit in Jiangsu... In 2014, Chen Xiaowen married a Suzhou native named Cai Heling. Looking back on the past ten years, from falling in love at first sight on Shiquan Street, to marrying in Suzhou, and then to having happy children, Chen Xiaowen said that she found her "roots" in this land.

Along with love, what crosses the strait is also the fusion and interweaving of cultures.

Lin Shimin, a famous Taiwanese ceramic and lacquer craftsman, came to the mainland to start a business because of her admiration for Jingdezhen, the "Porcelain Capital of the World", and established her own brand "Dahan Kiln". Because of her relationship with Yancheng girl Peng Haiyan, she started a road of innovation in the integration of porcelain and lacquerware. "The main technological feature of 'Dahan Kiln' is to combine the different craft technologies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait on one carrier, such as blue and white, underglaze multicolor, overglaze pastel, gold drawing, and more than 60 kinds of glaze line techniques," Lin Shimin said. Taiwan and the mainland have a lot in common in ceramic culture. "She is good at lacquerware, and I am good at porcelain. Our common wish is to make more exquisite ceramic artworks and bring 5,000 years of ceramic culture out of the country and to the world."

Bright Moon and Heart: A "Youth Promise" to Move Forward Hand in Hand

This year is the year of the Paris Olympics, and sports have become a "window" for cross-strait integration and common dreams. The creative sports show "Dancing Across the Strait" invited representatives of youth sports groups from both sides of the Taiwan Strait to select traditional sports such as martial arts, diabolo, and sports dance, and perform joint performances inside and outside the venue in the form of medley dances. On the stage are dynamic sports competitions, and in the market are street performances full of fireworks. Young people on both sides of the strait express friendship through sports and show their youthful style through creative rhythms.

"There were many novel and creative presentations in the opening ceremony that left a deep impression on me, especially the connection with the off-site market. It was the first time I saw it and it felt very fresh," said Cai Yuhua, a student from Taiwan Union University. This was her first time participating in the Youth Culture Month and her first time visiting Suzhou. "Today we went to Pingjiang Road, and I saw with my own eyes the scene of 'small bridges, flowing water and people' written in the textbooks. It made me feel that Suzhou is truly a traditional yet modern city."

Unlike Cai Yuhua, Wang Tingwen, a senior student from Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan, has visited more than 40 cities in mainland China and is an old friend of "Cultural Month". When he came to Suzhou again, Wang Tingwen brought two groups from Taiwan to check in and enjoy the "Suzhou-style life".

"Tonight's event showed me the organizers' dedication. There were many youthful expressions, trendy street dance, fashionable vlogs, and the entrepreneurial experiences of Taiwanese youth in the mainland. These are very close to our lives," said Wang Tingwen. The fusion of ancient and modern Suzhou has left a deep impression on Wang Tingwen, who studies urban planning. He is about to graduate this year and plans to study in the mainland for further studies.

The opening ceremony released the main projects of this year's Cross-Strait Youth Cultural Month in Suzhou, including the "Cheers for the Olympics" Sports Carnival series, "Meeting the Peony Pavilion" - Kunqu Opera Study Tour for Taiwanese Youth and Media, "One Silk, Cross-Strait Feelings" Silk Culture Theme Exchange, "Poetry on the Yangtze River" Cross-Strait Youth Painting and Calligraphy Exchange Exhibition, etc. As the "main battlefield" of the Cultural Month, Suzhou also organized 7 cultural and tourism experience routes, inviting young people from both sides of the strait to walk the streets and alleys to check in the Gusu City on the Internet celebrity map, see Suzhou gardens, taste Kunqu Opera Pingtan, try Jiangnan snacks, listen to the sound of Hanshan Bell, and go to a gentle Jiangnan dream together.

In addition, the 4th Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month also brought together the new generation from both sides of the Taiwan Strait from all over the province, and launched 16 sub-events and 15 reading routes, including the 10th Jiangsu-Taiwan Youth Elite Summit, the My Family's Cross-Strait Stories Nanjing Exhibition, the 2024 Cross-Strait Youth Taihu Lake Exchange Event, and the "Thousands of Years of Plum Blossoms and Fragrance on Both Sides of the Strait" Cross-Strait (Taizhou) Art and Culture Week.

With the bright moon as the matchmaker and the stars as the witness, as the "bright moon" slowly rises, the fourth Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month officially kicks off under the witness of the youth on both sides of the strait.

As the saying goes, "The bright moon rises over the sea, and we share this moment across the world." Even though the world is long, we will always meet where our hearts are; even though homesickness is lingering, we are of the same blood, and the morning sun is everywhere across the mountains and rivers.

“We share the same heart, the same rhythm, the same sky, and the bright moon that illuminates the sea of our youth.” Tonight, under the moonlight that symbolizes reunion, we come together for a better life.

Reposted from: Wosu Client