By He Jiayu

On 17 August, 2023 ‘a journey to find roots in China’ summer camp Nantong camp was open. 37 ethnic Chinese teenagers from Canada, Japan, the Philippines, and Germany gathered in Nantong, to look for the root of the descendants of Yan and Huang emperors.

For years, Nantong has held ‘Embrace China’ summer camps and winter camps continuously, let close to ten thousand overseas Chinese teenagers from more than ten countries including the United States, Australia and Thailand experience the charm of Chinese culture and local characters of Nantong by offline and online ways.

Wang Ruofei, who was born in China and grew up in Canada, participated ‘the journey to find roots’ for the first time. He likes Chinese martial arts, and is very interested in the taijiquan project in the trip. ‘I hope that I can know more about the rich culture of our motherland, and make many friends and establish a profound friendship.’ Matsukuma Miyuki, a camp member from Japan, came to Nantong for the first time. She said that she would cherish the ten days here, to improve Chinese, and learn traditional Chinese culture, and experience the unique cultural and regional customs of Nantong.