EU-China Co-operation Programs
cctv.com 09-01-2005 15:50
This programme was concentrating on the EU-China co-operation programmes and we were to go to three cities Xiamen, in the south east, Shanghai and Gansu Province in the west, which is one of the poorest provinces in China. The trip was for 10 days in total and it was a real eye opener. We were following a person round from each of the three places and comparing their lives with one another seeing how they benefited from being part of the EU-China programme. The lady we contacted in Xiamen worked for a 鈥榗utting diamonds鈥 company and even gave me some to take home with me鈥.nobody knows my home address on this website, right?! The EU project she was part of was a vocational training programme, meaning it would help give her some ideas for her own company. I must say walking around her factory wasn鈥檛 the most fun aspect about being in Xiamen, as neither was being ill from the seafood I ate there, but going to a new part of the country was great and the much needed warm weather was wonderful!
In Shanghai we followed a man who has his own real estate property and who goes to the No. 1 business school in the Asia Pacific Region, which just so happens to be EU funded!!! He was studying for an EMBA鈥xecutive MBA. We followed him around for the day interviewing others along the way who have benefited from this EU programme too.
Finally our last stop was to Gansu Province, where the EU project is mainly aimed at teacher training and the help from the EU comes in the form of notebooks and classroom equipment for the children. In one particular school we went to, there were 46 students who had received this scholarship and were given books to study from. The student we chose for our programme had had a difficult upbringing with her younger brother as their parents had left them when they were younger. So now it was solely up to the grandparents to take care of them. It was so sad to watch these young children live such a hard life, but the great thing was that they looked so happy. A lady in the project office told me that she heard a family like this one would only earn around $10 a year and that all their possessions probably added up to just $60. Can you imagine鈥
Anyway, this was the second programme I hosted for CCTV-9 and it wasn鈥檛 only of interest to those watching the programme but to me as well. I didn鈥檛 know beforehand that such a co-operation even existed between Europe and Asia, so I came away feeling that I really got something out of it. And to have met people like that little girl in Gansu really brought a new meaning to most things in my life.
Editor:Hu Hang Source:CCTV.com
