[Youth along the Silk Road Praise China] The Cultural Envoy of Sri Lanka: Promoting the Culture Exchanges through the Belt and Road Initiative

There are a group of young people from the Belt and Road countries. They are studying, traveling, working, or living in China, and therefore bound up with China. They have been witnessing the rapid change of China, sharing their own stories about China with others, and praising China for its change.

Recently, CRI Online has been releasing a series of news report, Youth along the Silk Road Praise China, to listen to these young people's stories about China.

Caption: Nishantha Wikkramasinghe in the interview.

The protagonist of this episode is Nishantha Wikkramasinghe from Sri Lanka – China Cultural and Social Association. On June 1st, the reporter met him in the opening ceremony of Sri Lanka Culture Week in Beijing, a cultural exchange event. The event was sponsored by Beijing People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Tianjin People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Hebei People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Mentougou District People's Government of Beijing and Sri Lanka – China Cultural and Social Association. The Sri Lanka Culture Week in Beijing began on May 30th and ended on June 3rd. It aims to show Chinese people the national image of Sri Lanka Island and promote people-to-people friendship and cultural exchanges between Sri Lanka and China.

During the opening ceremony, Sir Lankan students performed special singing and dance shows in the chorus with Chinese student art groups from the Children's Palace and Dayu middle school in Mentougou District. Nishantha said to the reporter in the opening ceremony that Sri Lanka Culture Week event in Beijing had promoted the cultural exchanges between the two countries. He also said the performance of Sri Lankan students showed the local customs and tradition thousands of years ago, and it was the first time for these Sri Lankan teachers and students to participate in an international event and they were very happy to come to Beijing. Bilateral people-to-people exchanges between Sri Lanka and China has witnessed the friendship among countries along the Belt and Road.

Caption: Sri Lankan students performed singing and dance shows [Photo by Bin Yang]