One hundred years ago, a group of passionate young people in China held high the two flags of Democracy and Science and set off the New Culture Movement, thus making the world see the power of youth.

Standing at the foot of Yuelu Mountain, Changsha sent an invitation to the world's youth on May 20 to jointly raise the two flags of Creativity and Culture to create a more prosperous and beautiful community with shared future for mankind.

Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, is a historical and cultural city with the same site and the same name for more than 3,000 years.

At the same time, Changsha also has many other honorary titles, such as "Hometown of Qu and Jia" (Qu Yuan (340-278BC), a poet and statesman in the Warring States Period and Jia Yi (200-168BC), a political commentator and writer in early Western Han Dynasty), "National Civilized City", "National Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone for Two-oriented Society (resource-conserving and environment-friendly society)", "An important node city in the urban agglomerations of the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, "China's Happiest City" and so on.

Guests at the 2019 Changsha Media Arts Festival & the International Youth Forum Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Road experience the P8 sustainable innovation community.

 Young representatives of the 2019 Changsha Media Art Festival & the International Youth Forum Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Road experience handmade pottery.

In 2017, Changsha obtained two important new business cards-"East Asian Cultural Capital" and "Media and Art Capital of the World", which made Changsha more international. Since that year, it has been more committed to establishing a global youth innovation partnership, successfully held the International Youth Forum Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Road. In the past three years, 280 youth representatives from 111 countries have been invited to join the grand event.

Changsha is an old city. Mawangdui Han Tomb, Four-ram Square Zun, Bamboo Slips of Kingdom Wu During Three Kingdoms Period, and Yuelu Academy all witnessed the long history of Changsha, and the unique Hunan culture lays stress on practicality and incorporates things of diverse nature.

Changsha is a modern city. The urban area is more than 568 square kilometers, with a permanent population of 8.3 million, and the total economy ranks sixth in the national capital city. 241 "15-minute life circles" allow the citizens to live a high-quality, efficient and convenient life.

Changsha is a beautiful city. The towering Yuelu Mountain, the surging Xiangjiang River, Orange Isle and row upon row of buildings form a beautiful picture, and it also won the title of the first batch of excellent tourist cities, national forest cities and national garden cities in the country.

Changsha is an intelligent city. Changsha has super hybrid rice, supercomputer, commercial small satellite, demonstration area of open road intelligent driving. It has more than 3,095 high-tech enterprises, and the contribution rate of high-tech industries to industrial growth exceeds 40%.

Changsha is a convenient city. Metro, intercity railway and maglev train can satisfy the traffic needs. The Beijing-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Kunming and Chongqing-Xiamen railways intersect here, and Huanghua International Airport has air lines to 145 cities at home and abroad. The "4-hour economic circle" covers 1/3 of the world's population.

Changsha is an open city. There are 2,699 foreign trade companies engaged in import amd export. As of the end of 2018, 481 companies have established 659 investment projects in 89 countries and regions around the world, with a total investment of 15.806 billion US dollars. A total of 156 Fortune Global 500 companies have rooted here;

Changsha is a friendly city. It has established sister city relationship or friendly cooperative relations with 50 cities in 29 countries, attracting 13 national visa centers to settle here. In June 2019, the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo was successfully held and permanently settled in Changsha.

Most proudly, Changsha is a city full of youthful spirit!

58 universities such as National University of Defense Technology, Central South University, Hunan University, and 96 independent scientific research institutions have gathered more than 600,000 college students and more than 420,000 professional and technical personnel. Since 2017, more than 200,000 young people have come to settle down every year.

A city chosen by youth must be full of vitality.

A city where youth gather is bound to have infinite possibilities.

With the greatest enthusiasm and sincerity, Changsha invites young artists, entrepreneurs and leaders in all countries of the world, especially the countries along the “Belt and Road” to visit Changsha, learn about Changsha, join Changsha and build Changsha. Changsha has set the stage for young friends from all over the world, and will provide technical guidance and financial support for qualified young innovative talents.

There are reasons to believe that Changsha youths who care about the world and dare to be the first will be able to show their talents and achieve their dreams in this creative and passionate city with young friends from all over the world!

Sincerely yours,

Changsha

May 20, 2020

C + C Global Youth Innovation Partnership Plan

The C + C Global Youth Innovation Partnership Plan will focus on two elements, CREATIVITY and CULTURE, to build a platform for global youths to communicate, learn from each other, and promote the youth to contribute in the field of creativity and heritage. In the next five years, this Plan will continue to hold the International Youth Forum Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Road, and invite about 1,000 outstanding young people from all over the world to Changsha, China for cultural exchanges and economic cooperation through open selection. 100 outstanding representatives will stay in Changsha to carry out innovation and entrepreneurship. This Plan will also provide technical support and financial guidance for qualified young innovative talents, and ultimately promote policy communication, facility connectivity, smooth trade, fund circulation and people- to-people exchanges between China and other countries in the world.

Stories of outstanding youth representatives in Changsha

Liu Yihan, born in February 1999, is a student majoring in information and computing science at Hunan University.

During the Spring Festival of 2020, students were delayed to return to school due to the sudden outbreak of COVID-19. Liu Yihan and other 8 students from Peking University and Tsinghua University jointly launched the “Desk for us”, which is to recruit college student volunteers to provide one-on-one online tutoring for children of frontline workers and patients in Hubei Province.

“On March 1, we sent invitations to college students across the country through online platforms. Within 24 hours, more than 550 online tutoring volunteers and more than 170 project operation volunteers signed up. We have been moved by everyone’s selfless dedication.” Liu Yihan recalled.

Since the launch of “Desk for us”, a total of 2,561 volunteers from 346 universities at home and abroad have signed up to participate, and the volunteers have provided more than 30,000 hours of various types of tutoring.

Facing favorable remarks, Liu Yihan and his friends will continue the activity and gather the strength of college volunteers and help families in need to light up their hopes. They say that youth should make themselves useful and provide assistance within their reach!

Hannah Getachew is an international student from Ethiopia

In May 2018, Hannah Getachew, an international student from Ethiopia, participated in the International Youth Forum Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Road as a youth representative. She expressed her feelings to her beloved President Xi Jinping , and received a reply from Xi.

In 2019, Hannah was invited to participate in the forum once again. Strolling along the streets and alleys of Changsha and feeling her vicissitudes and prosperity, this African girl fell in love with the city deeply and became a witness of China-Africa friendship and a spokesperson to present Changsha to Africa.

She wrote in a letter to the people in her hometown: "You can see fine porcelain in the museums, you can listen to Huagu opera on the open-air stage, taste the stinky tofu, crayfish and all kinds of good foods in Changsha. You can also appreciate beautiful fireworks. The warm and hospitable people of Changsha welcome you to personally experience the unparalleled charm of this city. "

Huang Cheng, born in August 1985, is a director of fireworks show.

Iexn 2008, after graduating from university, he entered the field of electronic information research and development. By chance, he participated in the development of a set of fireworks display equipment and succeeded. As he comes from Liuyang, well-known for its fireworks industry, he naturally dreams to make the fireworks of his hometown bloom in the night sky of the world.

Huang started to learn skills related to fireworks. With Changsha people's persistent and hardworking spirits, he gradually made a name for himself in the industry. In 2014, he was invited to serve as the visual director of fireworks for Beijing APEC. In 2015, he designed the first spark drama "Children's Fantasy Adventure", which was a great success on the banks of the Liuyang River.

He let the beautiful fireworks of his hometown bloom in the night sky of Beijing, Shanghai, Canada, Belarus, and won the applause of the domestic and international people for Liuyang fireworks. The team he leads has won 13 gold awards and 16 silver awards in international competitions.

In 2017, 2018 and 2019, he successively served as the general director of the fireworks of the third Changsha Media Arts Festival & the International Youth Forum Creativity and Heritage. He said that fireworks are a kind of culture, and I hope that through my own efforts, the works of “Chinese style and made in Changsha” will go to the world.

Events of International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Road

2017

The first International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Road was successfully held with 83 youth representatives from 65 countries along the “Belt and Road”.

Changsha won the reputations of “East Asian Cultural Capital" and "Media and Art Capital of the World".

Liu Yandong, then vice premier of China, expressed his hope to the Chinese and foreign youth representatives.

Irina Bokova, then Director-General of UNESCO, delivered a video speech.

Huang Kunming, minister of the Central Publicity Department, decided to promote this project via CCTV and the network after watching the promotional video of the forum.

President Xi Jinping wrote back to the youth representatives who participated in the forum.

The second International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage was successfully held with 73 youth representatives from 51 countries along the “Belt and Road”.

Lee Byong-hyun, chairman of the UNESCO Executive Board, attended the opening ceremony of the forum and praised Changsha as “a model leading city in Asia.”

China (Malanshan) Media Art Cluster was established.

2018

World Media Art Alliance was established in Changsha.

The first Media Arts Residency Programme was launched in Changsha.

Changsha won the gold award of “Future Cultural City”.

The Changsha Media Art Festival and the International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Road were listed as one of the top ten cases for overseas publicity organized by CIPG.

More than ten new media art exhibitions, 1,197 literary and artistic public performances and 21,667 public film screenings were held in Changsha.

President Xi Jinping expressed his support to the International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Road at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

The Third International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage was successfully held with 124 youth representatives from 85 countries along the “Belt and Road” .

The Chinese and English versions of the "Changsha Initiative" were approved and published by UNESCO.

On the third Belt & Road Youth Culture and Creativity Forum held in Changsha on April 3, youth delegates from many countries, communicated with young entrepreneurs, young leaders in the field of culture and creativity, and officials of international organizations, national and local governments and experienced how to contribute in the field of creativity and inheritance, promote economic development, and social progress. The Changsha Initiative was written by 124 youth representatives from 85 countries.

The State Council Information Office became the guidance unit for the forum .

2019

Changsha has established sister cities or established friendly cooperative ties with 50 foreign cities in 29 countries along the “Belt and Road” and attracted 13 national visa centers to settle.

The China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo permanently settled in Changsha, which was firstly held in June 2019. At present, more than 70 cooperation projects with African countries are on pipeline, totaling more than 9 billion US dollars.

International Sculpture Culture and Arts Festival, Meixi Lake International Culture and Art Festival, Orange Isle Music Festival and other cultural festivals are receiving much attention across the world.

Several local cultural enterprises have been selected as the national key cultural export enterprises. The original animation of “ Shanmao & Jimi” has been exported to 71 countries along the Belt and Road.

Edited by Li Ling