Each campus visit included at least one publicly open discussion among local student leaders, Chinese student delegates, and experts on China that centered on the topics chosen in a survey of North American tertiary school students.
Fourteen student delegates were selected from a large and extremely competitive pool of over 600 candidates at Peking and Tsinghua Universities to participate in the campus tour panel discussions and social events with the students of each school visited during the program. They represent a wide range of interests and educational specializations and offered a rich collection of perspectives to the students with whom they interacted during the campus tour.
Panel discussions included questions like the following:

• In your opinion, what are some of the most frustrating misconceptions that Americans have about China? What are the three most frustrating misconceptions that Chinese people have about America? What can be done to rectify these misconceptions?
• According to a 2007 Newsweek poll, about 90% of Americans say that they identify with a specific religion. Conversely, in China, the US Department of State reports that most of the country does not follow any organized religion—adherents to Buddhism, the most popular religion, represent only 8% of the population. Should we take these statistics to mean that Chinese people are less spiritual than Americans? From what sources do Chinese people derive their ethical ideals? How might this cultural difference impact relations between Americans and Chinese?
• Celebrities like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Zhang Ziyi have achieved widespread popularity in America. At the same time, many American personalities have also gained celebrity status in China. Do what extent do you think each country’s cultural exports accurately represent their respective societies?

Our panel discussions were among the most popular events at our conferences and garnered a collective audience of more than 3,000 students.