American and SZ teens forge friendship through music

Nearly 200 American high school students are joining their Chinese peers for a series of performances and cultural exchanges in Shenzhen this week, part of the “2025 China-U.S. Youth Marching Band People-to-People Exchange China Tour,” aimed at building bridges of understanding through music.

American high school students pose for a group photo during a visit to UBTECH yesterday. Liu Xudong

The tour, themed “Marching Together to a Wonderful Future,” includes stops in Beijing and Shenzhen from Oct. 9 to 18. It is part of an initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2023 to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years to increase interactions between the two peoples, especially between the youth.

The delegation, comprising students from Clarksburg High School, Thomas S. Wootton High School in Maryland, and Valley Christian Schools from San Jose, California, arrived in Shenzhen yesterday.

The program uses marching band performances as a vehicle to foster people-to-people connections and mutual cultural appreciation between the youth of the two nations.

A student from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Maryland, the U.S., experiences a racing car made by Shenzhen Polytechnic University during a visit to the university’s BYD Institute of Applied Technology yesterday.

The American students’ itinerary in the tech hub has been packed with cultural and technological immersion. They visited leading robotics company UBTECH and Shenzhen Polytechnic University yesterday. Their schedule also includes visits to six distinctive schools in Nanshan District, the Shenzhen Science & Technology Museum, and the historic Nantou Ancient Town.

The tour will culminate in two major joint performances in Beijing and Shenzhen, alongside pop-up roadshows that have already taken place at the Great Wall and are planned for Shenzhen Talent Park.

For many of the American teens, this is their first visit to China, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It’s really exciting. It’s so nice exploring different cultures,” said Celina Castro, a marching band member from Clarksburg High School. “I’m really fascinated about everyone in China... Everyone is so nice.”

Her schoolmate, Bennett Goldberg, was particularly impressed after interacting with robots at UBTECH. “It’s really exciting, and not many people can say they dance with robots,” he said. “It makes you really hopeful about the future... I think it’s been a really unique experience.”

Goldberg also expressed his admiration for the city. “I really like the architecture, I like the design, the food here is amazing.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the trip, which includes joint performances with Shenzhen teenagers scheduled for today, Goldberg said, “I really look forward to the cultural exchanges. And I really like all the friends I’ve gotten to meet while I’ve been here.”

This musical exchange follows a similar people-to-people initiative in April, when a youth group from Maryland’s Montgomery County visited China for a pickleball exchange.

More Photos by Liu Xudong and Lin Songtao: