BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) — Inside the Shenzhen headquarters of Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD, Harvard student Iseult Alice Fitzpatrick looked on in disbelief as a car rolled smoothly forward, balanced on just three wheels during a technology demonstration.
“This feels like the future,” she said. Later, she climbed into several of the company’s vehicles, trying out smart driving features and peppering engineers with questions about BYD’s latest technology.
Over nine days from May 17 to 25, Fitzpatrick and fellow Harvard students and faculty members traveled from Shenzhen to the southwestern province of Guizhou and then to Beijing as part of a China-U.S. exchange program with students from Peking University.
Along the way, they toured technology companies, stood atop the world’s tallest bridge, and wandered through the courtyards of the Forbidden City (Palace Museum). For many of the students, the trip offered a new perspective on China.
The delegation’s first stop was the Shenzhen Reform and Opening-up Exhibition Hall, where students traced the arc of a city that rose after China launched its reform and opening-up policies and has since become a hub for advanced manufacturing and technology.
Inside the museum, exhibits demonstrated how a modest fishing village on China’s southern coast changed over four decades into one of the country’s most dynamic urban economies.
The pace of change left a strong impression on the visitors.
“Building a city like this in just a few decades is remarkable,” said William Betts Wiltshire. “It speaks to the coordination and strategic thinking that shape how the country develops. I was deeply impressed.”
From China’s southern coast, the delegation continued inland to Guizhou, a province known for its steep mountains and deep valleys. Its rough karst terrain has long made travel difficult, requiring bridges and tunnels to connect the landscape.
Today, more than 32,000 bridges have been completed or are under construction across the province.
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, a steel-truss suspension bridge on the Liuzhi-Anlong Expressway, was a highlight of the visit. Certified by Guinness World Records in April 2026 as the world’s highest bridge, it rises 626.01 meters above a deep gorge. It has also been developed as a tourist site, with glass elevators, bungee platforms and night light displays illuminating the canyon walls.
For many students, the view contrasted sharply with China’s coastal cities, indicating how far development had spread into the interior.
“I expected this level of development in Shanghai,” said Jose Enrique Vera Ortega. “But I didn’t expect it here. It’s not just the big cities. It feels like development is happening across the country at the same time.”
In Beijing, the delegation moved into the country’s cultural center of gravity.
At the Palace Museum, students moved through vast courtyards and along rigid imperial axes, guided past red walls and golden roofs that have framed centuries of dynastic life. Students paid close attention as guides described architectural intricacies and symbolism, pausing frequently to photograph carved beams and painted ceilings.
For some, the experience shifted history from abstraction to something physically present.
“History feels real here,” said a Harvard student. “You’re not just learning about it. You’re standing inside it.”
Earlier in Guizhou, students had also tried their hands at traditional indigo dyeing, folding and binding cloth before dipping it into deep blue vats. The patterns slowly emerged as an ancient craft took shape in real time.
“It’s beautiful, and it has depth,” said Carla Isabel Gamarra Martinez, who later brought home dyed pieces for her family. In her view, closer engagement with another culture from the East could open up a broader perspective.
“The trip wasn’t just sightseeing,” said Liu Ziyi, an international student at Peking University who studies art. “It gave us a real sense of what culture can mean. I hope to build bridges between cultures with art.”
The visit is part of a broader effort to bring 50,000 young Americans to China over five years for study and exchange. Since the initiative’s announcement in November 2023, institutions on both sides of the Pacific have scheduled a variety of programs, including cultural trips, sporting events, and technology-focused seminars.
Doris Sommer, a Harvard University professor on the trip, said she hoped exchanges with Chinese counterparts would continue in the years ahead, deepening mutual engagement and expanding opportunities for collaboration and talent development.
“Future programs will be expanded to give more young people from both countries opportunities to engage and learn from one another,” said Yu Changxue, director of the Center for International People-to-People Exchange under China’s Ministry of Education.