Leaders for tomorrow

Chinese boats of course have had wind in their sails from seven seas. For example, in the 1840s, the Chinese merchant ship Keying sailed to New York and London, and was visited by Queen Victoria, Er says.

Liu Lixin, deputy director of the Jilin provincial publicity department, was inspired by Er's lecture.

"I feel proud to see how decades of development, especially since the reform and opening-up, can be fully reflected by an individual (experience) in Shanghai," Liu says.

She says the lecture enabled her to see the positive changes brought about by the work of the Communist Party of China.

Liu says the lecture has encouraged her to be bolder in introducing China to the outside world, much of which still doesn't quite understand the country, even now.

"We should go out and boost cultural integration of all ethnicities and nations," Liu says.

She says she will work to spread the culture, and innovatively promote Jilin's Changchun Film Studio, which was the first of its kind since the founding of New China in 1949, as well as the China FAW Group Corp, one of the first modern industries introduced to the province.

Liu also visited the historical site where the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held and went to the Pudong New Area to see and learn about positive development during her training at the academy.

"Jilin is a northeastern province and I feel we have a lot to learn from Shanghai, which has been at the forefront of both economic and culture development," Liu says, adding that she will focus more on public cultural service when she goes back to work.