To encourage and facilitate youth cultural exchange between Beijing and Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Palace Museum launched its two-year Bi-city Youth Cultural Leadership Programme on November 3. WEN Yiran, a student at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management and first-year student in the dual degree economics program between Tsinghua University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, enrolled in the program.

Opening ceremony for the Bi-city Youth Cultural Leadership Programme at the Palace Academy of the Hong Kong Palace Museum in Hong Kong, November 3, 2022

As many as 80 university students from Beijing and Hong Kong, approximately 40 from each, enrolled to embark in art and cultural exchange from November 2022 to February 2023. The first-year program, which is themed "Museum and City Innovation," will arrange learning activities online and offline, including master talks, virtual visits, dialogue sessions, and basic courses in art and culture, as well as training in innovative thinking and crossover skills. In the second-year program, a maximum of 16 university students from Beijing and Hong Kong, eight from each city, will join a two-month summer learning program, including an internship at art and cultural organizations or companies in Hong Kong. Participating students come from a range of educational backgrounds, and their majors include cultural research, creative industry, history, architecture, social sciences, art, media design and digital technology. All are interested in working in the art and cultural industries.

WEN Yiran speaks to a media outlet.

"I hope this program can give participants a new perspective with which to observe the world so we can learn how to integrate cultural elements into every bit of our lives," WEN Yiran said in an interview, "For me, integrating culture into urban development and addressing the collision of art and the metaverse are what I'm most anticipating. I think knowledge is valuable when we can use it to bring about good changes in our lives. I hope to learn how to integrate the culture and art that touch our hearts into life and urban development."

When talking about her expectations for cultural exchange between the two cities, WEN said she would like to see how "Hong Kong's culture, which is a sophisticated fusion of East and West, can be brought to the mainland, while the Chinese traditions – full of ancient charm – can be brought to Hong Kong from the mainland."

Editor: REN Zhongxi