'My China Album' features 100 friendship stories

The fifth edition of "My China Album", which features 12 video episodes collectively themed around "My Impressions of China-100 Stories of China-US Friendship", will be celebrated on Thursday at the Chinese embassy in the United States.

Highlighting people-to-people exchanges over the years, the video collection reveals heartwarming anecdotes, captures moments of historical significance, and tells tearjerking stories of wartime comradeship.

There are retrospective stories.

A story based in Kuliang traces footprints of an American family, detailing how four generations initiated, cultivated, safeguarded and nurtured a profound respect for and understanding of China, its culture and people.

Davyd Booth, a violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra who was in the troupe during its historic visit to China in 1973, considers music a powerful adhesive that has strongly connected the Chinese and American peoples. He believes the two countries "should become not just friends but great friends".

Harry Moyer, 103, is a Flying Tigers veteran. During World War II, he fought shoulder to shoulder with Chinese soldiers to defend against invading Japanese forces. China never forgets American friends and their devotion, Moyer said, because Chinese people are practitioners of, "A drop of water given in need shall be returned with a burst of spring".

A family in Muscatine, Iowa, shares firsthand information about hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping in the 1980s, which led to an enduring friendship of 40 years. When members of an American household opened their doors to a Chinese visitor with hospitality, they sowed the seed of goodwill and kindness, which later blossomed into a much-told tale praised far and wide.

There are stories depicting young generations and their cross-border collaborations.

Students at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington, have made many tours across China. With their Chinese counterparts, they visited scenic spots, tasted authentic delicacies, learned calligraphy, listened to operas and shot hoops.

More importantly, the youth of both nations realized the necessity and urgency of being open-minded, understanding and respectful of cultures other than their own.

There are stories documenting ongoing scientific cooperation.

Chinese and American scientists since the 1990s have engaged in extensive collaboration in various fields, including wild panda ecology, genetic structure, monitoring techniques, captive breeding and disease prevention and control.

Experts from the National Zoo in Washington and the San Diego Zoo participated in giant panda conservation and research.

It's always important to promote such exchanges, more than ever, said Winston Lord, an American diplomat and US ambassador to China in the late 1980s.

"'My China Album' and programs like that are needed now to increase understanding and relationships between our two peoples," he said.

The fifth season of the "My China Album" is jointly produced by the Chinese embassy in the US, the Chinese consulates general in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, and China Daily.