China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Vision China: Gen Z key to building shared future
Members of Generation Z from China and around the world should shoulder more responsibility and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind, experts said.
They can play an active role in promoting communication among young people and facilitate peopleto-people exchanges worldwide, the latest Vision China event organized by China Daily heard on Wednesday. Gen Z is broadly defined as people born after the mid-1990s.
The event, themed “Young Voices: Global Vision”, was held online and offline in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
Jayathma Wickramanayake, the United Nations secretary-general’s envoy on youth, said youth have the potential and power to shape their own future.
“With more than 1.8 billion young people around the world, our generation has an enormous opportunity to transform our societies, especially as we look to recover better together from the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said via video link.
When the pandemic broke out last year, young people all around the world, including in China, sprang into action and joined the front lines of the response and recovery efforts as first responders and as health workers, leading online and offline information campaigns, supporting the vulnerable in their communities, and in many more ways, she said.
“Young people are creators, builders and leaders of the future. It is your unwavering passion and motivation to fulfill your dreams and to be agents of positive change that inspires me every day,” she said.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games, it was inspiring to see so many young people front and center, including the many young refugee athletes who competed. The determination of these young athletes is another example of the courage, strength, determination and hope young people bring to the table, she added.
In his speech at a ceremony marking the Communist Party of China’s centenary on July 1, President Xi Jinping called on young people to make it their mission to contribute to national rejuvenation.
“The future belongs to the young people, and our hopes also rest with them,” Xi said.
Liu Weiling, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said no matter what age they are or what country they live in, young people are the most active and vibrant force of society.
Like galloping horses, generations of inspirational young people have pushed ahead the wheels of history, Liu said.
The people of Gen Z are at a critical stage of personal enrichment and learning. With abundant resources and opportunities, they are also living in a world undergoing profound changes unseen in a century and faced with unprecedented and complicated challenges, she said.
“The world belongs to you,” she said. “We believe that you will live up to the important responsibility and build a community with a shared future for mankind featuring peace, development, civilization and prosperity.”
Five Gen Z speakers — from China, Belarus, the United States, Pakistan and Egypt — were invited to share their views on China through their personal stories and thoughts on global issues.
According to Dylan Walker, a young communist from the United States, young Party members in China and around the world should firmly believe that socialism is good, the Communist Party of China is capable and that Marxism works.
“We should listen to the Party, follow the Party and integrate ourselves into the collective,” the international student at Beijing Language and Culture University said at the Vision China event.
“Young people should strive to carry forward the development of world peace, promote friendly exchanges and find purpose in the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.”
Walker began learning Mandarin when he was 5 from a friend’s mother who is Chinese, and his interest in the language grew day by day.
He later went to a Chinese school and began to fall in love with the country, its history and language.
“It was through learning Chinese that I began studying the history of China, but more importantly, learning about the Communist Party of China, the Chinese revolution and Mao Zedong Thought,” Walker said.
The day after his 18th birthday, he submitted his application to join the Communist Party USA. During his first trip to Beijing in 2012,2 he waited in line for almost two hours to visit the Chair man Mao Memorial Hall “to pay respects to the great man whose ideas and works inspired me to set upon this glorious path of changing our world into a better place”.
“After learning Chinese for almost 20 years, many trips to China, completing my bachelor’s degreee in Beijing, and now doing a master’s degree at BLCU, as a young Party member, my faith in Comt munism has not only become more steadfast, but I now truly understand the responsibilities we youth must take on,” he said.
Walker also spokeo about the ceremony ny marking the Centenary of the Communist Party of China on July 1, during which President Xi Jinping said that “the future belongs to the young people, and our hopes also rest with them” and said the speech reminded him that as a young US communist, he should never
forget the Party’s original aspiration or his mission.
As a US student studying in China, Walker wants to do his best to contribute to China’s educational development, its reform and people-to-people exchanges.
“It is of the utmost importance, especially in today’s global political climate, to break down barriers, help build mutual understanding and respect, and create better relations between people of all nations,” he said in his speech.
“Civilizations are colorful because of exchange, and rich because of mutual learning. In today’s world, cultural development is more diverse, and exchanges between different cultures are more frequent.”
However, he also pointed out that some countries employ soft power as a national strategy, using their international influence to compete for resources, seize control of markets and interfere with sovereign territory.
“Cultural exchanges face severe challenges that cannot be ignored. There is no distinction between ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ cultures, only characteristics and regions. Cultural differences should not be the root cause of world conflicts, but should be the driving force for the progress of human civilization,” he said.
“To inherit and carry forward human civilization, we youth should keep seeking common ground while reserving differences, learn from each other, look at our world with equality, respect and love each other and view different civilizations with an attitude of appreciation, tolerance and mutual learning.”
Walker added that international students should make full use of their time overseas, taking advantage of tourism and cultural, economic and trade exchanges to promote their cultures.
“We should actively participate in dialogue and exchanges with countries, and carry forward a cultural spirit that spans time, space and countries, and allows people all over the world to enjoy a more meaningful, spiritual life,” he said.