Conservation takes root among students
Shenzhen-Kashgar culture program champions wildlife protection
About 40 students from Kashgar city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region recently found themselves at the edge of the blue sea for the very first time.
Standing in Futian Mangrove Ecological Park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, they marveled at the sprawling ocean and the lush, green mangroves — a stark contrast to their hometown where sprawling grasslands, rolling Gobi deserts and the snow-capped Kunlun Mountains go on as far as the eye can see.
For these middle school students from diverse ethnic groups, this was a journey of firsts: their first glimpse of the sea, their first encounter with mangroves, and their first sight of the migratory birds that called the sanctuary home.
Meanwhile, back in the ancient city of Kashgar, another group of students embarked on their own journey of discovery. Guided by enthusiastic volunteers, they lifted binoculars to their eyes or looked into telescopes for the first time, exploring the familiar yet unexplored world of local bird-life at the Beihu (North Lake) Park.
These experiences were part of the "2026 Shenzhen-Kashgar Cultural Exchange Season: Journey of Mountains and Seas". The initiative was born from the desire of aid workers from Shenzhen in Xinjiang to foster a deeper connection between the two regions and find an innovative way to support the development of the areas — the city of Kashgar and Tashikurgan Tajik autonomous county.
Since May of this year, aid workers from Shenzhen have been exploring innovative strategies to bridge the significant geographical and cultural divide between the two regions. One of their attempts was bird-watching.
"Bird-watching has become a quite popular leisure activity for many Shenzhen residents, helping to elevate our city's environmental awareness, thanks to our long-term efforts in mangrove and migratory bird conservation," a leader of the Shenzhen Aid-Xinjiang Forward Command Post's "cultural nourishment to Xinjiang" program told China Daily.
"We figured out that we could promote bird-watching and ecological education in the schools we support in Kashgar, using ecology as a bond for cooperation and communication, exploring a new path for ecological aid to Xinjiang, and promoting Shenzhen-Kashgar interaction, exchange, and integration."
