Discussion Meeting: Sino-German Relations Through Time

Aged from young Phd students to almost 80 years, alumni of the FES scholarship programme from the Beijing area gathered at a hotel in the Xiangshan mountains in the Western outskirts of the city during this December Saturday afternoon.

Guests of honour, Mr. Ma Canrong, former Chinese Ambassador to Germany, and Dr. Clemens Treter, Director of the Beijing Goethe Institute, delivered the key note speeches expressing their views on the development of Sino-German relations during the past few decades from their respective perspectives.

The two presentations were followed by a lively discussion between the attendants, touching on a wide variety of aspects from the views on China held in Germany and vice versa to other obstacles in the bilateral relationship.

Going beyond day-to-day business, the discussion managed to focus on the greater trends of the past four decades and gave the FES alumni community an opportunity to both exchange and socialize.