On September 27, the "Joining Hearts, Creating Future"—2025 Hubei-Taiwan Youth Sports Study Camp, jointly organized by the Hubei Provincial Cross-Strait Exchange Promotion Association and WHSU, officially kicked off at WHSU.
Attendees included Chen Jiping, Secretary of the Party Committee of WHSU; Zhang Danqing, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Taiwan Affairs Office; An Shuqing, Vice Chairperson of the Taiwan Go Education Promotion Association; Cai Jiyao, Head Coach of the Go Team from Taiwan Sport University; and Zhang Xiaoyin, Secretary-General of the Taiwan Go Education Promotion Association. They also presented awards. Zhang Biao, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of WHSU, presided over the opening ceremony.
After the opening ceremony, Hubei and Taiwanese youth shot off the starting line like arrows released from a bow, running along the track with youthful vitality radiating from their faces, marking the start of the new semester's campus health run mode.
This study camp was divided into six activities: the "Hubei-Taiwan Cup" Cross-Strait Youth Go Exchange Competition, the "Youth Setting Sail－Joyful Mid-Autumn" Campus Youth Run, Mid-Autumn Festival themed garden party, Hubei-Taiwan Sports Culture Exchange Seminar, water sports experience, and city study tours. Thirty Taiwanese Go players and over a hundred Taiwanese teachers, students, and youth working or starting businesses in Wuhan participated in this event.
At the Go exchange competition, 40 players from Hubei and Taiwan made friends through the game, enjoying the harmonious and pleasant atmosphere of Go. After several rounds of competition, rankings for the team and mixed doubles events were determined. Zhang Xiaoyin, Secretary-General of the Taiwan Go Education Promotion Association, participated in last year's Hubei-Taiwan Youth Sports Study Camp with three students. Following her return to Taiwan, she shared her experiences, which led to her group expanding to twenty students this year. She mentioned the Tang poem they've known since childhood: "'The old sage left on a yellow crane, all that remains here is Yellow Crane Tower.' Everyone is particularly looking forward to visiting the real Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan!"
The young people were full of vitality. Wang Tingjun, a Go major student with 14 years of experience, made several friends from Hubei through playing Go. "After our matches, we review the games together and added each other on WeChat to continue communicating in the future. That's my biggest gain from this trip!" At the garden party, Shi Xijun, a graduate student from Taipei, enthusiastically experienced traditional sports activities like Cuju and archery. "It's really fun! I hope there are similar events to participate in every year!"
After the youth run activity, Hubei and Taiwanese youth jointly participated in the Mid-Autumn Festival themed garden party. They staged scenes of ancient elegance, played traditional Chinese games, and donned splendid Hanfu. They also admired the moonlit scenery, took photos to mark their visit, and exchanged festive greetings, renewing familial bonds and sharing in the joy of reunion.
During the event, the Taiwanese youth took part in a diverse range of activities, including dragon boating, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, university-level sports culture exchange seminars, and city study tours featuring visits to universities, enterprises, and cultural landmarks. These experiences were designed with the goal of fostering regular cross-strait youth exchanges and deepening mutual friendships.
As stated by a relevant responsible person of the organizing committee, the event aims to leverage sports as a bridge to further deepen the interaction, exchange, and integration between the youth of Hubei and Taiwan, and to advance the joint inheritance and promotion of traditional Chinese culture by young people from both sides.
