A mainland delegation of 40 students and teachers, including table tennis superstar Ma Long, received a warm welcome at Taiwan University on Tuesday during their nine-day visit to the island.
Fans of Ma gathered at the university gate early in the morning to wait for the delegation's arrival. They erupted in cheers when Ma appeared, chanting, "Captain Long, we love you." Six-time Olympic champion Ma Long has served as the captain of the Chinese national table tennis men's team since 2014.
"I am very excited. I thought I was going to be late, and my heart was racing with anxiety," said a fan who skipped work to welcome Ma.
After the excitement of Ma's arrival, teachers and students from both sides of the Taiwan Strait held a symposium, with President of the Taiwan University Chen Wen-chang and Head of the mainland delegation Qiu Yong delivering speeches and exchanging gifts.
Invited by the Taiwan-based Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, the delegation, consisting of 40 mainland students and teachers, arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Nov 27.
The mainland students and teachers are from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhejiang University, Fujian Normal University and Beijing Sport University.
Olympic shooting gold medalist Yang Qian from Tsinghua University is also in the delegation.
This is the second such visit planned by the foundation. In 2023, faculty members and students from five mainland universities were warmly received across Taiwan, positively impacting cross-Strait relations.
In 2023 and 2024, Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang, also led youth groups from Taiwan on visits to the mainland.
China's table tennis icon Ma Long welcomed by excited crowds in Taiwan
A China Pavilion officially opened on Monday at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, highlighting China's decades-long efforts and achievements in combating desertification.
Covering more than 600 square meters, the China Pavilion is the second-largest national pavilion at the event. Its exhibition, themed "Cross-Century Green Great Wall, China's Restoration in Action," showcases the nation's battle against desertification, particularly through the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, a major national initiative aimed at reversing land desertification in its north, northwest and northeast regions by surrounding desert lands with trees and vegetation.
Addressing the opening ceremony, UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza Murillo praised China's significant contributions to curbing its desertification, including controlling the expansion of the Taklimakan Desert in west China, the world's second-largest shifting sand desert.
She emphasized that effective policies, community and local government involvement, as well as innovation and technology, are key components of China's success.
"The example of what the government of China is doing in restoring land, in combating desertification, means a lot to humanity. It is inspiring and remarkable to see that China has already achieved land degradation neutrality ahead of time by restoring 50 percent of curable degraded sandy land. This is amazing. It's clear that we need good leadership, good policies, engagement of the society, engagement of national governments. It's really good to see this engagement, and of course, innovation is technology, it's traditional knowledge, and this is what we are seeing in the China experience," said Murillo.
COP16, held from Dec. 2 to 13 under the theme "Our Land. Our Future," is the largest UN land-focused conference to date and the first UNCCD COP in the Middle East and North Africa.
China Pavilion opens at UN conference on desertification held in Riyadh
