By Jade T. Miraflores

Three Negrenses were among the 54 youth leaders to represent the Philippines on a visit to China earlier this month. The Philippine Youth Leaders’ Visit to China was organized by the Chinese government, through the All-China Youth Federation and the Chinese embassy in Manila, in partnership with the National Youth Commission (NYC).

Jade T. Miraflores of the Provincial Peace Integration and Development Action Team (ProPIDU-PIDAT); University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos University Community Development Office director, Dr. Richelle H. Verdeprado; and Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias student Belgrade Liberace H. Tuvilla were the three Negrenses to take part in the eight-day trip, which visited the cities of Beijing and Shanghai and the province of Henan.

During the trip, the visitors stopped by Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the National Museum of China, the Juyong Pass of the Great Wall, the Shanghai Youth Center; along with participating in workshops on Chinese cooking and calligraphy, learned kung-fu at the Tagou Martial Arts Vocational School and the Shaolin Temple at Mount Song; and attended a lecture discussing the relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Newly-appointed NYC commission for Luzon, Assistant Secretary Ronald Gian Carlo Cardema, called the trip the beginning of a “strong alliance between the Filipino youth and the Chinese youth.”

The experience has allowed participants to impart all they learned to empower local youth./JTM, WDJ