10th Beijing International Mountain Walking Festival (Xinyang)

On April 20, the 10th Beijing International Mountain Walking Festival (Xinyang), also known as the 2nd Xinyang International Mountain Walking Festival, kicked off in Xinyang, Henan province, a city well known as China's “Maojian Tea Capital.” The festival drew nearly ten thousand walking enthusiasts from dozens of countries and regions such as Greece, South Africa, Italy, the U.K., the U.S., and Serbia. The event, themed "Meeting Xinyang, Seeing Picturesque Pingqiao," had two routes: the 13km "Family Route" and the 19km "Sportsman Route."

Kontos, executive vice president of the Greece-China Association, took part in the hiking event at the invitation of the Beijing NGO Network for International Exchanges (Beijing NGO) during his 199th visit to China. Kontos completed the 19km route and praised the event planning and logistics. He said such international events played an important role in fostering people-to-people connectivity.