A group of 450 Russian teenagers concluded a 12-day summer camp in China on Wednesday.
The Russian delegates, aged 12 to 16 and accompanied by tutors and doctors, arrived in Beijing on July 30 and visited famous historical sites, including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
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A group of 450 Russian teenagers concluded a 12-day summer camp in China on Wednesday.
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After their Beijing tour, the Russian teenagers were divided into two groups and travelled to the coastal cities of Shanghai and Dalian, respectively. The two groups stayed in those cities for one week and met with their Chinese peers at local schools before flying back to Beijing on Tuesday.
President Hu Jintao invited the teenagers during his 2009 visit to Russia. This year's delegation was the second part of the exchange program specified by Hu; another 500 Russian teenagers visited China last year from July 31 to Aug. 9.
The summer camp was a form of reciprocation for an invitation extended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's for Chinese students from regions devastated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Nine hundred of the students visited the All-Russia Children's Care Center in Vladivostok in 2008 and 2009.
"Although the programs initiated by the two presidents have been wrapped up, the exchanges conducted between Russian and Chinese youngsters will still go on," said Valerie Marzoev, head of the Russian delegation and director of the center.
"During my stay in Shanghai earlier this week, I invited 30 local students to visit Russia next year," Marzoev said.
"We need to hand over the baton of traditional friendship between Russia and China to the younger generation, as they will decide the future of their nations," Marzoev said.