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"ACYA would also like to see more Australians heading to soi-disant 'second-tier' cities like Chengdu, Kunming and Urumqi. To understand China at the grassroots level I think it is necessary to look outside the ring roads of the capital," Williams says.

In 2012 ACYA is busy building the Chinese side of Australia-China youth engagement. This is more difficult, Williams says, and the organization must work hard to make Australia relevant to Chinese youth, who are often extremely busy juggling demanding study commitments and choosing from a plethora of extra-curricular options to fill their free time. "There are lots of Chinese very involved in ACYA chapters in Australia, but we want to expand our network in Beijing and other domestic cities. As a youth organization, we adopt a relaxed approach in which friendship is placed first and the ACYA brand is in the background. It's a quintessential Australian approach – we organize casual dinners and sporting events for youth from both countries to get to know each other and develop genuine friendships. We encourage informal language exchanges, too."

As President of ACYA China for 2012, Williams is keen to draw attention to the array of initiatives the organization has planned for this year, especially those less known than the Australia-China Youth Dialogue. In Beijing, ACYA will continue and expand its Beijing Forecast Lecture Series, through which ACYA members and interested members of the public can attend lectures and engage in group discussions with prominent individuals in the Sino-Australian community in Beijing. "We aim to invite experts with unique insights and opinions on topics often overlooked by the media. In February we were fortunate enough to have Dr. Geoff Raby, former Australian Ambassador to China, who spoke about his time as Ambassador and the personal side of Sino-Australian relations," Williams says.

Also run from Beijing, but with the participation of members throughout China, is ACYA's burgeoning project to encourage expatriates to donate secondhand computers to the poorest rural communities, chiefly in Yunnan Province. "The initiative is called 'Dispatch The Electronic Brains!' – a play on the transliteration of the Chinese word for computer, diannao. The first batch of donated computers is will head to Tongzhou village of Yunnan Province's Dehong County this summer. "With computers, children can drink from the well of knowledge available through the internet and other electronic resources; computers significantly broaden their education horizons," Williams says. "Also, by spending less on printing materials, schools can hopefully spend more on the extracurricular activities that mean education enjoyable, like sports equipment."

ACYA is also keen to increase its presence in other Chinese cities. The Shanghai chapter of the association is planning to establish a prestigious event, possibly a lecture series similar to the Beijing Forecast. A Guangzhou chapter of ACYA is also being kicked off this year.

"We are also planning a volunteer teaching program to actively encourage Chinese and Australian members of ACYA in Beijing to venture outside the capital. We will ask volunteers to go in small groups, with equal numbers of Chinese and Australians. The mixture should be interesting for local students and volunteers alike," Williams says. "This year we plan to send volunteers to rural Guangzhou, and possibly also to Sichuan."

"In 2012 our web presence will also be expanded," Williams says. "We aim to step up the web publication of a comprehensive China-Australia youth journal, which will provide a thought space for academic and creative discussion on youth relations between our countries. The journal will be bilingual."

"The ACYA website itself will also be significantly revamped this year," Williams says. "The internet presents a labyrinthine challenge to English speakers seeking Chinese language-learning resources. There's a lot out there, but it's hard to find and a lot is of questionable quality. We hope to open a one-stop shop for Chinese language resources, to be called 'The Cornucopia of Chinese' – the kind of thing I wish I had when I was scratching out my first Chinese characters."

Williams is eager to stress that ACYA is not a networking organization per se, but was established with the best intentions to foster youth exchange. "The goal is not to promote Australia – it's about the world engaging with China's youth to promote perspective, learning and friendship," he says. "In that sense, ACYA doesn't aim for a monopoly in youth dialogue, but actively encourage other countries to set up youth organizations. Britain has set up such an organization that has borrowed from the ACYA model. Several Canadians are also in the process of setting up a youth association, and we hope America and the European Union will follow suit in the near future."

"ACYA is a pioneer," Williams says. "By fostering youth links, we hope to boost mutual understanding between China and the world in years to come. China is here to stay – it's our job to seek to understand this fascinating and important country."

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VOL.59 NO.12 December 2010 Advertise on Site Contact Us