Tibetan and Chinese Youths To Meet For Bridge Conference[Wednesday, 3 March 2010, 2:01 p.m.]

File of the students meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Dharamshala:
A group of Chinese and Tibetan students feel that the best way to
resolve tensions, bias or misunderstandings is through the free
exchange of ideas among people with different perspectives from all
walks of life. So they came up with a fresh idea called “The
Bridge Conference” to interact with each other informally to explore
the causes and sentiments of each side, which was affected especially
after the peaceful protests in Tibet and the subsequent crack down by
the Chinese government since March 2008.Sponsored by Hunter,
The City University of New York, Pace University and China Youth
Foundation, the group is meeting for an interactive discussion on
topics concerning Chinese and Tibetan issues in New York on 14 March
2010. “The participants came from different educational
institutions and organised panel discussions in their schools to
analyse the issue of Tibet from social, political, economical and
anthropological perspectives. Many of them have met with Tibetan and
Chinese intellectuals, Chinese officials, as well as His Holiness the
Dalai Lama of Tibet,” the organisers said in a statement posted on its website.“The
Bridge Conference is an on-going project with annual activities
dedicated to building positive relations and the free exchange of ideas
between Chinese and Tibetan youth. It consists of students and young
people with advisory support from some faculty members and has no
affiliation to any political, national, or religious groups.“It
comes out of a shared commitment among the participants not to any
shared political objective but to promoting the growth of a healthy and
productive civil society back home, beyond any disciplinary, cultural,
or ideological barriers. “Many of the Chinese students had not
been to Tibet or studied Tibetan culture, and most of the Tibetan
students overseas often did not speak Chinese or have much knowledge of
Chinese culture. The students also had widely differing backgrounds,
religious beliefs and political views. But they were able to exchange
ideas and articles, to learn more about each other’s situations, and to
create basic channels of communication and trust between each other.“The
events will exchange ideas and build communication between participants
by learning from community representatives, eminent speakers and
student participants about relevant topics concerning Chinese and
Tibetan issues,” the organisers said.