"I have received your letter. I am very glad that you all study, work and live in China and have the opportunity to visit different places and deepen your understanding of China," wrote Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter to foreign representatives of the Global Young Leaders Dialogue in August 2021.

The kind words like family letters impressed Zoon Ahmed Khan, a Pakistani studying at Tsinghua University in China.

"I feel that I am part of China's development, and this reply makes me feel at home, which is a great encouragement to international young people like me," he said.

Jointly initiated by the Center for China and Globalization and the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, the Global Young Leaders Dialogue (GYLD) is a unique educational and professional development platform for "young experts who have achieved the outstanding in various fields" and "senior international professionals keeping an eye out for the world's youth and ... willing to voice their aspirations and apprehensions" under the age of 45.

Last year, a group of people from different countries traveled to China as part of the Global Young Leaders Dialogue. During the event, 36 foreign representatives from 28 countries wrote to Xi to share their experiences and insights during their visits to China and express their hope of playing a bridge-building role to better promote exchanges and dialogue between China and other countries.

In recent years, Xi has replied to foreign youths many times, encouraging Chinese and foreign youths to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, enhance mutual understanding and develop long-term friendships.

"Civilizations are inclusive, and inclusiveness is the driving force for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations," Xi said in an article published in 2015 in Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. 

The story of William N. Brown, a foreign professor at Xiamen University, exemplifies the cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and other countries.

Brown, also known as Pan Weilian in Chinese, resigned from the position of vice president of First Securities in the United States and moved to southeast China's Fujian Province in 1988. He has explored China and has been telling stories about Chinese people since then.

On December 22, 2018, Brown published a book, "Off the Wall - How We Fell for China." This book selects 47 from thousands of Brown's family letters, showing the changes in Xiamen and around China at different times. 

From his father's disapproval of his moving to China to the gradual understanding of China from the letters and finally agreeing with his son's choice, the story of an American family vividly reflects the 40-year history of China's reform and opening-up.

After the book was released, Brown wrote a letter to Xi and sent a copy of the book along with the letter. Xi replied to the letter and congratulated him and thanked him for devoting 30 precious years of his life to China's education.

"I believe that you will witness a more prosperous, progressive China, a China that will bring more benefits to the world and mankind. Your stories about China will be fascinating," said Xi.

"Amity between the peoples holds the key to state-to-state relations, and amity between the peoples lies in mutual understanding," Xi told the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017. The Chinese leader has always believed that people are the best carrier of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

The story of Milton Gardner, an American, and his story in China has deeply moved the people of both countries.

For most Chinese, "Kuling" or "Kuliang" in Fujian dialect may be an unfamiliar place. But for Milton Gardner, who once lived in China at the beginning of the last century, this place on the outskirts of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province recorded 10 years of his happy childhood.

Gardner returned to California with his family in 1911 and became a professor at the University of California, Davis. He always missed Kuling but never got the chance to return.

On his deathbed, he uttered the words, "Kuliang, Kuliang." Gardner's wife, Elizabeth, traveled to China, hoping to find the place her husband adored, but to no avail – until then-Secretary of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee Xi Jinping heard the story in 1992.

On the afternoon of August 21, 1992, Gardner arrived in Fuzhou by plane from San Francisco via Beijing. On the same evening, Xi welcomed Gardner and said it was predestined that they met there.

"Fuzhou is a city with a long history of friendly exchanges with foreign countries. Hundreds of years ago, the famous Chinese navigator Zheng He started from here to forge friendships with other countries.”

The next day, under Xi's arrangement, Gardner went to Kuling, the unforgettable place of her husband's childhood, to see with her own eyes the place that her husband would never forget.

On February 15, 2021, then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping told this story to Chinese and foreign audiences during his visit to the United States. The story created a sensation at home and abroad.

"I believe there are many more touching stories like this among the Chinese and American people. We should further strengthen exchanges between the Chinese and American people and build the most solid public support for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries," Xi said.