2017年CRI Beijing children make historic visit to Sweden

Students from Beijing Jinfan Art Troupe 1 gave a performance at Stockholm Concert Hall on May 2, 2017. [Photo: China Plus/Chen Xuefei]

Hundreds of students from 9 different primary and middle schools in Beijing are in Sweden's capital as part of a major cultural exchange initiative 2.

The Chinese students, ranging in age from 6 to 15, have been given access to the famed Karolinska Institute, one of the world's most prestigious 3 medical universities.

Founded in 1810, the Karolinska Institute is today most associated with the Nobel Prize.

The 50 faculty 4 members at the Institute are responsible for deciding who wins the annual award for Physiology 5 or Medicine.

Professor Anna Wader is one of the esteemed 6 members of the Karolinska faculty, and helped lead the Chinese students on their tour of the Institute.

"I think it is wonderful to have this visit and they seem to be very interested and they have many interesting questions, I am very happy to have them here."

As part of their tour, the Chinese students were given an explanation of the history behind the Nobel Prizes.

They were also treated to a lecture by Edvard Moser.

Moser won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on understanding how the human brain processes information from the environment around us.

Raised in a community of less than 50-thousand people on the west coast of Norway, Moser says the desire to learn and expand one's mind should not be influenced by where you live.

"I think you don't need to be in Boston or Harvard or San Francisco, you can come from a small area. You just study what you really like, study what you have great passion for and do what you are good at. Good Luck. You can study science, you can do something else, anything is possible. Maybe some of you will become scientist in the future."

Many of the young Chinese students who sat through Moser's lecture seem to have taken his message to heart.

"I thought a lot after listening to the Nobel Laureate's lecture. I felt they won the prize through their hard work. They set up a good example for us. "

Dou Chunxiang, Education Councilor with the Chinese Embassy 7 in Stockholm, says the entire trip is an eye-opening experience for the 600 young Chinese minds.

"That 600 excellent students from Beijing came to visit Sweden marks the great prospect 8 for bilateral 9 cooperation and exchange in ground level education. Children are the future, so it is very meaningful to have young people here to learn and experience. "

Beyond their educational tours, the young students from Beijing are also helping 10 spread Chinese culture as part of their time in Stockholm.

Around a thousand people turned out to the Stockholm Concert Hall this past week to watch the Chinese students put on a variety of music and dance performances.