Experts hail the power of Sino-US collaborations

Increased Sino-US collaborations in medicine, education, and art have greatly helped the two countries to strengthen mutual understanding and elevate civil friendship to new heights, said professionals during a meeting to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the issuing of the Shanghai Communique by the United States and China.

The communique was issued on Feb 28, 1972 during US President Richard Nixon's visit to China.

Ji Qingying, Party secretary of the Shanghai Children's Medical Center, recalled how the facility was established in 1998 due to Sino-US medical collaborations.

She said that executives from Project HOPE, a US-based health education organization, had visited China and were looking for cooperation opportunities. The executives, she noted, were impressed by Chinese experts' dedication to the research of child's congenital heart diseases and this led them to initiate a collaboration with the Shanghai No 2 Medical College — it later became the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine — to establish a children's hospital focused on treating those with complex diseases.

When the facility started operations, the US organization provided opportunities for more than 300 Chinese medical workers to receive training in the US. It also donated advanced medical equipment worth $25 million.

"Years later, the foundation said this was the most worthwhile project that they had ever donated to. We really cherished the opportunity to learn and improve, and this gradually promoted the development of the pediatric field in Shanghai and even in China," Ji said.

Supported by the foundation, the Shanghai hospital then collaborated with the Boston Children's Hospital, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and St Jude Children's Research Hospital in the areas of cardiothoracic surgery, children's behavioral development and pediatric tumors.

The medical workers at the Shanghai hospital later passed on what they learned through these collaborations to their peers in China starting in 2002.

"What we learned was not only the advanced medical treatment techniques but also child welfare philosophy," Ji said.

Mao Ying, president of Shanghai Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University, said that extensive international collaborations with elite foreign medical institutions — mainly those in the US and Europe — over the past decades have allowed many of their employees to gain an international perspective and hone their skills.

Such collaborations still take place today, noted Mao.

"Experts from Huashan, which has the most competitive neurosurgery department in the country, and our counterparts from the Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital still hold a conference every month to share the latest patient cases and treatment plans," he said. 

During the meeting, those in the art and culture fields also shared about the close ties the two nations have shared in this regard.

Teng Junjie, vice-chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Literacy and Art Circles, noted that several Chinese movies have won acclaim in the US over the years.

"When Farewell My Concubine, a movie with Beijing Opera elements, was premiered in New York City in 2017, over 200 tickets on the second floor of the theater was sold out because of the overwhelming enthusiasm from the audience," said Teng.

"Cultural and art communication helps two countries with different social systems and environments prevent misunderstandings — this is the first step to building mutual respect and understanding," he said.