Passage to Russia

For these youngsters, there is a friendship because the Russian youth are "cute, interesting and simple," says Li Wei, a Chinese young woman who studies biology at Moscow University and worked for the Cultural Week as a volunteer.

　　Russian youth belonged to different sub-cultures, she says. Those who dress themselves in punk styles and move around in groups are actually friendly and helpful, and even those who race on their motorbikes along the river are gentle and polite.

　　Lin Fang, also a volunteer at the Cultural Week, studied geology at Moscow University for seven years. According to her, Russia has a vibrant contemporary art scene, and it is a pity that the understanding of many Chinese, including the young, toward Russian culture is limited to that represented by the song "Evening in Moscow's Suburb", a Russian song popular in China in 1950-60s.

　　In her eyes, it is not difficult to merge into the local culture because young people in Moscow are open-minded and aware of cultural diversity.

　　"It is a foreign land," she says. "But not so foreign because there is something familiar here, especially in art and history."

　　Editor: Cindy