When Japanese and Chinese young people get together to discuss relations between the two countries they are able to overcome many of the prejudices prevalent on each side. This was one important discovery that 24 Chinese and Japanese students made at the Jing Forum, held last week at Tokyo University.

The forum represented the culmination of a year-long project, during which students from China and Japan had been communicating over the Internet and visiting each other's countries to investigate some of the major issues affecting Sino-Japanese relations.

What the students got out of the forum far exceeded the factual knowledge they gained.

An important part of the project's value was the tremendous improvement in mutual understanding participants gained through their personal experience of each other's countries, and the genuine friendships they formed with their counterparts.

The project was initiated by Guan Le, a management studies major at Peking University, and Kaeko Suzuki, an education studies major at Tokyo University.

Guan and Suzuki wanted to give some of Japan and China's top students, likely to go on to play major roles in Sino-Japanese relations, a chance to form their own perceptions of each other.

Guan stated the aim of the event was to "connect the future leaders of China and Japan."

The students at the Jing Forum highlighted the role of both countries' domestic media in perpetuating overly simplistic and negative images of either side.

The students felt that reporting on Sino-Japanese relations in the two countries is dominated by issues related to the Sino-Japanese war, and exaggeration is common, giving audiences a distorted view of each others' countries.

"These issues represent only one part of China, or of Japan," said Suzuki, "But people tend to see them as the whole.

"We established this forum so that the young generation can get a better understanding of the actual situation in each country," Suzuki said.

Guan said the event helped both sides get to know what the other side is thinking about.

He said he came up with the idea one year ago when he was visiting Japan. "I found that there are many exchanges between the two countries, but no one really provides sufficient time for young people from both sides to have an in-depth discussion about bilateral relations."

This year's forum was divided into four sections economy, security, environment and history. Each section involved three Chinese and three Japanese students.

1

2