On December 20, 2024, the 2024 Kuliang Forum, co-hosted by the People's Daily Digital Communication and Global Times, was held in Beijing. Shen Xin, Vice President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), attended the event upon invitation and delivered a keynote speech.
Shen Xin highlighted that the Kuliang story remains a powerful testament to President Xi Jinping's personal dedication to fostering friendly exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples. He noted that the CPAFFC and the People's Government of Fujian Province jointly organized the Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-US People-to-People Friendship Forum and the Bond with Kuliang: 2024 China-US Youth Festival. President Xi Jinping sent congratulatory letters to both events, encouraging participants in people-to-people friendship between the two countries to ontinue telling the Kuliang story and carry forward its legacy. President Xi also expressed the hope that young people from both nations would engage in meaningful exchanges, strengthen friendship, deepen mutual understanding and amity, and progress together.
Shen emphasized that the CPAFFC will continue collaborating with partners from diverse sectors in both countries to draw wisdom and inspiration from the Kuliang story. By transcending cultural differences and fostering mutual trust and friendship, the CPAFFC aims to ensure that the bond between the Chinese and American peoples endures, strong and resilient, much like the thousand-year-old cedar trees in Kuliang.
The forum was themed "Bridging Cultural Differences, Inheriting Friendship and Trust".
Yu Shaoliang, President of People's Daily; Guo Ningning, Member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Fujian Provincial Committee and Secretary of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee; Lu Kang, Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee; and Roberta Lipson, Chairperson of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, also delivered keynote speeches. Approximately 150 Chinese and American guests, including members of the Kuliang Friends, attended the forum.
Sun Tao, Director-General of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of the CPAFFC, accompanied Shen Xin to the event.
