On April 12-14, 2019, the second “Silk Road & Young Dreams” will be held in Beijing. On the basis of the three competitions of speech, music and photography, activities this year will include sand paintings and e-sports, which are popular among young people and show the charm of creative culture. In addition to the competition, the “First Silk Road Youth Carnival” and other activities will be held.

A total of 311 contestants from 70 countries of five continents have signed up for the second “Silk Road & Young Dreams”

Silk Road & Young Dreams is an annual international silk road youth exchange project, co-hosted by the Silk Road Cities Alliance, China Friendship and Peace Development Foundation, Beijing Belt and Road Cooperative Community and Chongyang Financial Research Institute of Renmin University of China. It aims to provide a stage for young people from different backgrounds to show their talents, share their dreams, and build a bridge for them to feel the pulse of the times, connect to the society and enhance friendship.

The number of applicants has increased significantly, reaching three times that of last year.

The activities will include:

• music competition (57 entrants)
• photography competition (88 entrants)
• sand painting competition (49 entrants)
• speech competition (92 entrants for English, and 32 for Chinese language)

70 countries, 5 continents

The contestants are widely distributed in 70 countries on five continents. There are both developing countries and developed countries in Europe and Americas, which reflects the strong interest and active participation in the “Belt and Road” issue of young people from all over the world.

The contestants are from:

• Europe: Albania, Austria, France, Germany, Georgia, Montenegro, Croatia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Greece, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia
• Asia: Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Jordan, China, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, India, Syria, Lebanon
• Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Benin, Guinea, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Congo, Morocco, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire
• Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
• South America: Ecuador, Jamaica, Suriname, Colombia
• North America: Canada, the United States, Mexico

The number of contestants from China stands at 82, with 229 entrants from abroad.

International recognition

The diplomatic community in China responded enthusiastically, with a number of embassies and UN organizations sending their wishes. The institutions are as follows: Embassy of Egypt, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, Gabon, Algeria, Ecuador, Jamaica, Greece, Montenegro, Switzerland, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Albania, Maldives, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Laos, Nepal, Indonesia, Pakistan, Palestine, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Thailand, China and the UN Global Compact Organization.

The events are co-organized by many organizations, such as the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, the Hungarian Cultural Center, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Youth Committee, the Tsinghua University Student Belt and Road Research Association, Beijing Zhongshi Xingqiao International Culture and Art Media Co., Ltd.

Many other institutions are actively assisting, including China-ASEAN Center, Bank of China Group, Harbin Electric Group, China National Building Material Group, China Construction Bank, young artist Li Yugang’s “Yu Space” and media including People’s Daily online, Xinhua Video, China Central Broadcasting and Television Station International Online, China Youth Daily, China Economic online, China Daily, the International Talent Exchange magazine, as well as LetsDoChina.org initiative.