HK, Macao students head to Beijing for 5-day youth exchange

More than 940 students and flag-raising team members from Hong Kong schools and universities departed West Kowloon Station on Friday aboard a direct high-speed train to Beijing, keen to join a youth exchange program that offers a firsthand window onto the nation's history, culture and development.

They are part of a group of over 1,200 visiting students drawn from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and neighboring Guangdong province.

The event was jointly organized by the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, and the governments of the two SARs.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Hong Kong Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin described Friday's launch as "especially meaningful", as Sept 18 commemorates the September 18th Incident — also known as the Fengtian or Liutiaohu Incident — in 1931, which marked the start of imperial Japan's invasion of China.