A 'cloud' dialogue between Chinese and American people was held on Sept 20 to mark the 113th anniversary of the birth of Helen Foster Snow, a famous American journalist, writer and social activist who attached great importance to education and young people's understanding of history.  

The 'cloud' dialogue takes place at the Foreign Languages College of Northwestern University in Xi'an.

The online dialogue was jointly sponsored by the Helen Snow Foundation of the USA and the Snow Research Center of Shaanxi Province and was presided over by Adam Foster, president of the Helen Snow Foundation.  

Professor Hu Zongfeng (in blue suit), dean of the School of Foreign Languages College of Northwestern University and director of the Shaanxi Snow Research Center, make a speech during the dialogue.

Scholars, experts and educational representatives from Utah (Helen Snow's home state), Connecticut (where Helen lived in her later years), and Shaanxi, China, gathered together to hold an online international dialogue on the theme of "strengthening business and educational cooperation and promoting the sustainable development of Sino-US relations".

Professor Hu Zongfeng, dean of the School of Foreign Languages College of Northwestern University and director of the Shaanxi Snow Research Center, said that many years ago, when the Communist Party of China and the Red Army were still in extremely difficult conditions, Edgar Snow and Helen Snow came to northern Shaanxi to objectively report what they saw and heard and help the world understand the facts of what was happening in China.

"Today, I think it is more important for the Chinese and American people to strengthen cooperation and in-depth understanding," Hu said.

"Today's dialogue allows us to understand each other's situation in the United States and China, and to understand what the Chinese people and the American people are doing. We should look at the problem objectively rather than make a subjective assumption. We should see for sure, and go to each other's countries to understand in person," Hu said.

Peter Chen, associate professor of College of Education, Brigham Young University, USA, said at the dialogue that the activities of Brigham Young University around Helen Snow in recent years include promoting their collections, learning and cross-cultural experiences.

"This year, a special thing we have done is to offer a course related to Helen Snow's experience in China, which is jointly offered by Brigham Young University, South Utah University and the Northwest University of China," Chen said.

Chen said that most colleges of Brigham Young University have internship programs for overseas study, and many students have a lot of knowledge about China. Some of these projects are directly related to Helen Snow and some are not, but they embody Helen Snow's bridging spirit.

"I hope that our students can understand Helen Snow and come to China, like her, to experience China. I hope Chinese students can come to the United States to experience it. We should continue to build bridges and continue Helen Snow's lifelong bridge-building concept. We hope that more young people can inherit this bridging spirit, understand each other, and promote exchanges between the two peoples," Chen said.