The
seven-day-six-night cross-cultural trip was, first time in history,
a joint event among our Children and Youth Service Team and
two other organizations namely Shanghai Youth Amusement and
Cultural Centre, the Government of Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality
Autonomy Prefecture. Seventeen Hong Kong Students, primarily
from Form 4 or up, set out our journey to this unfamiliar place
called Xishuangbanna; together with the participants from Shanghai
we spent 
time
with their local students to learn about each of our culture.
We were deeply moved by the sincerity and truthfulness expressed
by these people who were from one of the so-called minority
tribal nations. It inspired us, as city people, to self examine
all the conscious and unconscious reasons for building unseen
walls between ourselves and others. Also by seeing the Shanghai
youths' attitude toward adversity, we were further reminded
how vital it was for people of our generation to keep learning
and equipping in knowledge in order to face new challenges in
the 21st Century.
The
program on the last day of this trip was to plant a "friendship"
tree and a "time-pouch" in Banna Royal Garden-Manting
Park. A pine tree sapling was planted by us---the youths from
all three areas, that symbolizes the beginning of our friendship.
Then every one of us wrote our expectations toward our country
and placed them all into a "time-pouch" before it
was planted in the soil. That was a symbolic gesture to gather
all blessings from afar for the ongoing prosperity and strength
in China.
