Xingzhi teachers and students join the 2026 Grand Canal Cultural Experience in Jiangsu

From 19 to 29 July, "A Thousand-Year Canal, the Waters of Jiangsu — the 2026 Grand Canal Cultural Experience" was held in Xuzhou, Nanjing and other places in Jiangsu, organised by the Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and the Jiangsu Overseas Friendship Association. Close to 150 students from 29 Chinese schools in 17 countries took part.

At the organisers' invitation, Xiao Yong — chairman of the Swedish Association for Chinese Mother-Tongue Education and principal of Xingzhi School — led four of the school's outstanding students to Xuzhou, to attend the award ceremony of the ninth "Huawen Chuangxiangqu" writing competition and the opening of the Grand Canal Cultural Experience.

Song Qi, vice chair of the Jiangsu Overseas Friendship Association, attended and spoke. She described the Grand Canal as a living piece of world heritage, its Jiangsu stretch carrying a thousand years of cultural thread and joining north to south. She urged all young people of Chinese heritage to be a youthful force carrying the culture forward and friendly emissaries between China and the wider world, and called on everyone working in Chinese-language education, in China and abroad, to hold to the mission of passing the culture on and to be both "bridge" and "gardener" between the homeland and the world.

"In my lessons I have told the children: if the Great Wall, running east to west, is one stroke of a Chinese character, then the Grand Canal, running north to south, is the other. That forceful first stroke and this gentle, restrained second one together write the character 人 — 'person' — large across the land. That is a passion and a romance particular to us, and it carries besides the spiritual code that keeps our people going." So began Principal Xiao Yong's speech at the opening ceremony, as representative of the overseas Chinese schools' delegation leaders.

This year's writing competition received over ten thousand entries. In total 50 grand prizes were awarded, along with a number of first prizes, second prizes and merit awards, and 46 Outstanding Organiser awards to Chinese schools overseas. Of the entries Xingzhi School recommended, 79 won awards: 1 grand prize, 16 first prizes, 42 second prizes and 20 merit awards — clear evidence of the solid work the school puts into Chinese-language education.

杨涵桐 (third from left) accepted the award on behalf of the grand prize winners.

裴诗琪 (seventh from left) accepted the award on behalf of the first prize winners.

宋林远 (second from right) accepted the award on behalf of the second prize winners.

Principal Xiao Yong (seventh from left) accepted the Outstanding Organiser award.

Over the ten days, our teachers and students travelled between Xuzhou and Nanjing, more than a thousand kilometres, visiting several museums and historic sites and taking part in a range of cultural experiences tied to intangible heritage. At the Nanjing opening ceremony, 刘亦宸 and 裴诗琪 also served as hosts for the cultural programme.

Our four students kept their focus throughout, took part in every activity with real enthusiasm, listened attentively, arrived on time, kept to the rules, helped and looked after one another, and never fell behind. They showed the best of what a Xingzhi student is, and won praise from every quarter.