As China kicked off the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), ZJU-ISM organized the first “Experiencing China” activity for its international students and faculty members to get a better understanding of China. Three MBBS students from Malaysia and Indonesia, a postgraduate student from Afghanistan and a researcher from India participated in the activity.

Vice Mayor Wang Wei delivered a report introducing the national congress and Yiwu’s development over the past decade. The ambitious goal of developing Yiwu into an inland opening-up hub and world-class commodity center was also announced during the report.

After the report, the students and faculty members visited the Shuangjianghu Water Conservancy Project, Yiwu Geely Powertrain Manufacturing, and the Nanwangxi Camping Base in Chi’an Town. They witnessed the achievements made in Yiwu’s infrastructure development, industrial transformation, innovation-driven development, rural revitalization and common prosperity.

The postgraduate student from the 2022 cohort Frozan Khoshbakht (from Afghanistan) commented: “Seeing the rapid changes in Yiwu, I feel very excited and encouraged. In the future, I will tell my friends about Yiwu” Other participants also said that the activity was helpful in understanding the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and the progress made in Yiwu, and they will continue to make contributions to Chinese-foreign communication.