Five postgraduate students of Chinese culture and art from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in west Canada were awarded a Chinese-funded scholarship in Vancouver on Thursday.
Each of the student will get a grant of 2,000 Canadian dollars (1,400 U.S. dollars) from the scholarship funded by the China-based Pan Tianshou Foundation,together with the Vancouver Chinese Culture and Arts Foundation.
Each year, five students will win the scholarship, a five-year program with a total of 50,000 CAD (35,000 dollars) to hand out.
The scholarship "will help build more cross-cultural respect and understanding between China and Canada, and will encourage more local young people to get to know Chinese culture and to build up the friendship between our two sides," Chinese Consul General to Vancouver Liu Fei said at the award ceremony.
UBC's Dean of Arts Gage Averill said his school aims to create global citizens, and the funds provided by Pan Tianshou Foundation would help make that happen.
UBC has seen Chinese students coming to study since 100 years ago. Today, UBC has more than 3,000 students from China, and also has more than 70 active agreements on research and student and faculty exchanges with top Chinese universities.
"When we have visionary philanthropists and foundations willing to help, it allows us to attract the top students and then to send them out into the world to do extraordinary things," Averill told Xinhua.
Pan Tianshou was one of China's most famous modern artists and educators, who died in 1971. In 1984, a foundation was established in his name to promote Chinese art and cultural exchanges. Thursday's event marked the first time the organization has awarded scholarships overseas.
Zhou Yueping, vice chairman and secretary general of Vancouver Chinese Culture and Arts Foundation, said the scholarship grants "can help spread the cultural spirit of Pan Tianshou, as well as help Chinese culture merge into the world."
