Passage to Russia

　　

Gu Xiulian (second from right), vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and president of the All-China Women's Federation, sings with Svetlana Orlova (right), vice-chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia, at a performance in Moscow.

China's Web-based generation may find it ridiculous to see people of their parents' age, or even older, weep when listening to Russian folk songs.

　　But if they look closer, they will find in these tears a genuine emotion.

　　The generation gap is most obvious when it comes to Russia. For older Chinese, feelings toward Russia are reflective of the ups and downs in bilateral ties - ties that have been strengthened in the last three decades.

　　Yet for a young generation, it is an exotic place of beauty and wealth, of a deep and profound culture - a mystic power.

　　These ideas found expression at the China Russia Women's Cultural Week from July 2-8 in Moscow and St. Petersburg, one of the main events of the Chinese Year in Russia, that led to much interaction between people from both countries at concerts, discussions and exhibitions.

　　They were also mirrored by the different generations of Chinese students in Russia, who got together during the week. For those sent by the State in the 1950s, during the honeymoon days of bilateral ties, their whole life has been inked in the history of the Communist Movement worldwide.

　　

Zhao Shaohua (left), vice president of the All-China Women's Federation, exchanges gifts with Valentina Matwiyenko, the mayor of St Petersburg.

Take 73-year-old Sun Guiyu, retired geology professor from Peking University, who was one of the first group of students dispatched by the Chinese government in 1954.

　　A native of Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, she landed the rare chance of overseas studies owing to both her academic excellence and political reliability.

　　More than five decades later, she joined the Chinese delegation organized by the All-China Women's Federation, and returned to Russia as a folk artist during the Cultural Week. As she rose to make a speech, she saw one of her former classmates, a Russian, approach the stage. The two hugged and cried unabashedly before a large audience.

　　Svetlana Orlova, vice-chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia in Moscow, was so moved by the scene that she referred to it in her speech saying, "It is a symbol of the two countries' friendship."