OREANDA-NEWS. August 20, 2014. Lately, 28 Chinese college students on state-subsidized student loans and 28 American high school students gathered in Beijing to attend the 3rd "Rainbow Bridge" Chinese-Foreign Students Cultural Exchange Program exclusively sponsored by BOC, embarking on their cross-cultural exchange journey.

The Chinese and American students visited the BOC Head Office Building designed by Leoh Ming Pei, a world-famous Chinese American architect; felt the beauty of the traditional Chinese culture in the "Hall of Four Seasons" displaying the landscape architecture of China; witnessed the fast-changing global market conditions in China's biggest foreign exchange trading room; sensed the solemn commitment of BOC in front of the country's biggest safe deposit box bank; and experienced in person its considerate services by exchanging small-amount foreign currency in its spacious and bright business lobby.

The 28 Chinese students, all with outstanding academic performance and good qualities but financially-strapped background, come from 28 colleges in 20 autonomous regions, cities and provinces across the country. They will go to the US to visit prestigious universities there including Harvard, Yale and MIT; the National Gallery of Art, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress and the World Bank from July 31 to August 20. During this period, they will also visit the nearly 80-year-old BOC New York Branch.

The 28 American high school students with similar academic and financial background from New York, Washington and Seattle will also take part in a series of activities that will enable them to understand the history, culture and actual conditions of China, including learning Chinese Kungfu, calligraphy, seal-cutting and ethnic dancing, making Peking Opera facial masks, having social gatherings with schools for the children of migrant workers, orphanages, and schools for the disabled, visiting renowned cultural tourist attractions, famous Chinese enterprises and China-based American institutions.