Youth choir festival set to bolster Sino-US friendship

The festival is part of an initiative for inviting 50,000 young people from the US to China for exchange and study programs over a five-year span. The initiative was announced by Xi during his visit to the US in 2023.

At the festival's opening, Zhang Qingwei, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, noted Xi's personal push for the constantly developing story of China-US friendship.

Zhang called on youths from both nations to "take cultural exchanges as a bridge" and "jointly write a new chapter for China-US subnational friendship".

Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the US, noted that in recent years, young people have drawn closer to each other through music, and he cited the example of the One Voice Children's Choir from the US going viral on the internet with a video of the choir singing a Chinese song at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing in January.

"The internet has helped us break out of the echo chamber. … More and more young Americans have come to see a cool China," Xie said in a prerecorded video speech.

"Facts have proved that the headwinds of geopolitics cannot stop our people from reaching out to each other," he added.