International Friends Participated in 2019 Long Walk in Summer Palace

时间:2019-12-27  16:47:25

On the afternoon of October 26, around 500 walking enthusiasts, including representatives from embassies and international institutions, foreign teachers and exchange students, gathered at the Kunming Lake of the Summer Palace for the annual Walking Around Kunming Lake for International Friends.

Zhang Qian, executive vice president of the Beijing People’s Friendship with Foreign Countries (the BPAFFC), pointed out in her welcoming speech, “the theme for this year is ‘iBeijing’, meaning ‘I love Beijing’. We hope that participants can fall in love with Beijing and enjoy their life in Beijing.”

International students from colleges and universities of Beijing gave a wonderful warming-up performance that  brought applauses, laughter to the audience and a climax to the whole event before the walking started.

The start of the walking was signaled by with a drum beating by Zhang Fusen, honorary president of the BPAFFC, after awards for Special Support, excellent Organization, Best Performance, and Frequent Participation were given to institutions and individuals by representatives from different organizers.

Leaders from the organizers, including Zhou Laisheng, president of the Haidian District People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, also participated in this walking.

2019 marks the 19th anniversary of the event since its launch in 2001, with an annual participation of 500 to 800 international friends from more than 60 countries, and a total of around 10,000 participants so far. Due to the wide range of the participants, this activity has been nicknamed by the media as the “Folk Olympic Games”, so popular that many embassies, colleges, universities and  foreign institutions based in Beijing have included the event into their annual programs.