The third Sino-India Yuzhou Charitable Scholarship for Arts Program, was launched in Shanghai on July 23.

Indian students present Chinese tea to their Chinese "families". [Photo/ jfdaily.com]

Started by the Shanghai Cherish Yuzhou Ageing Career Development Foundation and the India International Fine Art Academy along with other institutions in 2016, the program supports 10 students from the academy each year to travel to China for a cultural exchange summer camp.

“I feel more and more Indian elements in China these years. More Indian companies are coming to China, and many Bollywood movies have been introduced into China,” said Prabhat Kaul, vice president of Infosys, a China-based Indian company, at the launch ceremony of the program.

An Indian students communicate with his Chinese counterpart. [Photo/ jfdaily.com]

During the ten-day program, the ten students majoring in fashion design, textile design, fine arts and practical arts will form “international families” with their Chinese counterparts and elderly artists from the Shanghai Cherish-Yearn elderly people's community to experience Chinese crochet, Taiji, calligraphy, painting, and paper-cutting.

As soon as the current crop of Indian students arrived in China, they felt the warmth of their “international family”. The first gift they received was a Chinese name given by the elderly artists. Alik Karmakar was given the name “Xiao Long”, which he liked very much, perhaps because it’s very close to Li Xiao Long, also known as Bruce Lee. Mr. Yang Yousheng , who gave him the name, had a differing interpretation, however, and said that the name has two meanings. “One is that he was born in the year of the Dragon, and the other is that I hope he will bring good luck to both China and India just like the dragon." Vrinda Sharma, who came to China for the first time, received the Chinese name Jiayin, which means “good news” in Chinese. Guo Huiqiu, who gave her this name, said she hopes that her arrival would bring "good news" to both countries.

“This is the third time I've participated in the project, and I feel the friendship between China and India every time,” said the famous Chinese voice actor Qiao Zhen. He read the poem silkworm to the students, hoping that they can learn from the conscientious silkworm to make contributions to both countries.

Xi Zhiyong, founder of the Cherish-Yearn Group, believes that the program provides a platform not only for Indian students to learn about traditional Chinese culture and art, but also for the elderly artists to realize their wishes of making a contribution by communicating with Indian and Chinese children. The knowledge, optimism and attitude of the elderly also deeply impressed the Indian students. “I am grateful to my ‘Grandma’. The Chinese painting, calligraphy, Taiji... Everything I  learned was really interesting,” one of the second batch of participants, “Dongdong”, said.