Students from Qinghai and Utah participate in a fun activity during an exchange visit on May 29 in Xining, China's Qinghai province. The year 2026 marks the 15th anniversary of the sister province-state relationships between Qinghai and Utah. MA MINGYAN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
Jeffrey Sullivan, director of systemwide athletics for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, has not taken off a bracelet since February. A Chinese student from a visiting delegation knotted and tied it around his wrist and told him that it would bring luck for the entire year. Sullivan has no intention of removing it.
Across the country in Utah, a young woman named Ellie Phelps once sat in a Chinese-language class and was ready to quit for lack of a personal connection to the language. One summer camp in China changed everything. Today, Phelps is on a Fulbright Scholarship at Tianjin University. This year, she will return to the summer camp as a mentor.
At a park in Liuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, couples take their wedding photos on the replica of a bridge located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In Tacoma, Washington, more than 200 students from Lincoln High School and its sister school in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian province, have taken part in mutual exchanges since 2008. Among them was a young woman whose single trip sparked a lifelong love of immersing herself in other cultures.
