"Young people are happy because they have a future"

On March 23, 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping said in Moscow at a cordial discussion with Russian sinologists, Chinese students and media representatives, "Cultural exchanges are a project of the people's hearts and the future. Russia is one of the first countries in the world to study sinology, and the level of sinology is in the leading position in the world. It is precisely because of the long-term exchanges and integration of the two cultures that Sino-Russian friendship has taken root." At this symposium, General Secretary Xi Jinping not only gave examples of his favorite Russian literary masterpieces, but also quoted the famous words of the Russian literary scholar Gogol that "young people are happy because they have a future", expressing his good wishes and expectations for the chinese and Russian young generations to continue to inherit the friendship between China and Russia.

Gogol is one of the Russian writers that Chinese readers are very familiar with and love, a giant of Russian literature in the 19th century, the founder of Russian critical realist literature, and the founder of the naturalism of Russian literature. Originally known as Nikola Vasilyevich Gogol Janovsky, Gogol was born on 1 April 1809 in the village of Veliko SoloChince in Mirgorod County, Poltava Province, Ukraine (then under the jurisdiction of Tsarist Russia), and worked and lived in St. Petersburg and Moscow until his death in Moscow on March 4, 1852.

Chernyshevsky once said of Gogol: "He tells us what kind of people we are, what we have shortcomings, what we should pursue, what we despise and what we like. His life was a life of brutal and fierce struggle against himself and others, a life of striving for an eternal goal that he diligently pursued— to serve the interests of his country. From this passage we can glimpse the spiritual pursuits and values of a generation of Russian literary masters. Gogol's short life left many wonderful literary works for later generations, the most famous being "Dead Souls" and "Chincha Chancellor". Gogol's works, which depict real life and expose the absurdity of social reality in satirical and humorous language, intersect with Pushkin's works, laid the foundation for 19th-century Russian critical realist literature. With his unique creative style, Gogol strengthened the critical and satirical tendencies of Russian literature, inherited and developed Pushkin's national tradition, and ushered in the "Gogol era" of Russian literature. The artistic style and profound ideological nature of Gogol's works of laughter and anger not only influenced a series of later Russian classic writers such as Turgenev, Goncharov, and Dostoevsky, but also profoundly influenced Lu Xun, Lao She, Zhao Shuli, Zhang Tianyi, Sun Li and other modern and contemporary Chinese writers.

Gogol's literary works flash with many wisdom proverbs, "Young people are happy because they have a future" comes from his literary masterpiece "Dead Souls", which is the pinnacle of Gogol's realist creation and the first novel of real significance in Russian literature. In this sentence, Gogol expresses his reflections on the meaning of youth and his expectation that youth will have an infinite future. Youth is a season of vigor and ambition, young people are full of style, embracing ideals, there are infinite possibilities, although youth is not eternal for all people, but as long as there is hope in the heart, as long as there is no stop on the road of life, there will always be a future. Youth is an eternal topic, and youth is the hope of the future. China and Russia have a long history and splendid culture, and people-to-people exchanges play an irreplaceable role in enhancing the friendship between the two peoples. In the 1950s, Mao Zedong addressed young students studying in Russia at Moscow University: "The world is yours and ours, but in the final analysis it is yours." You young people are full of vigor and are thriving, like the sun at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. Hope is pinned on you" – inspiring generations of young people in China and Russia. General Secretary Xi Jinping is also very concerned about the growth of young people, mentioning the topic of youth on many occasions, often encouraging young people to pursue their dreams and make unremitting efforts. General Secretary Xi Jinping said, "Young people are the most vigorous and dreamy" and "young people are the future of the motherland and the hope of the nation", and young people have lofty ideals and firm beliefs, which is the indestructible driving force for a country and a nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping mentioned Gogol's famous remark in this discussion with russia's three generations of old, middle-aged and young people, which also expressed his praise for youth, and at the same time placed high hopes on the young people of China and Russia to inherit the tradition of people-to-people exchanges between the two sides and open up a better future for China-Russia relations. Young people are the most vigorous and energetic, the most pioneering spirit, and the successors and fresh forces of people's friendship and people-to-people exchanges. Since the establishment of the strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia in 1996, political mutual trust has been deepening, people-to-people exchanges have been vigorously carried out, and fruitful results have been achieved. The setting of the cultural diplomacy agenda at the national level has created opportunities for the people-to-people connection between China and Russia, and has created a good public opinion foundation for the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries, and "cultural integration" and "people-to-people communication" have become the cornerstone of strategic docking and interaction between China and Russia in the exploration of building a community of common destiny.

General Secretary Xi Jinping said at the forum, "To develop Sino-Russian relations well, we must face the future and cultivate friendship among the young generation. It is necessary for young people to understand the history and present of each other's countries, learn the language and culture of each other's countries, and communicate with their hearts. Only by exchanging more and making more contacts can we understand more comprehensively and more profoundly." To cultivate the successors of Sino-Russian friendship is to start from young people, and Russian President Putin has also expressed the same view on many occasions and responded positively to General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech. President Putin said that in order to further develop Russian-Chinese relations, it is necessary to strengthen exchanges between young people of the two countries, and the key to whether the Russian-Chinese comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination can continue to develop in depth lies in whether the young generations of the two countries can understand and communicate with each other, and the Russian government will fully support and encourage exchanges and cooperation between young people of the two countries. It is precisely under the joint initiative and support of the leaders of China and Russia that the two countries jointly held the "China-Russia Youth Friendly Exchange Year" in 2014 and 2015, which is another national-level themed cultural exchange activity after the successful mutual organization of the "National Year", "Language Year" and "Tourism Year" between the two countries, which reflects the determination of China and Russia to further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination. Driven by the initiative of the "China-Russia Youth Friendship and Exchange Year", Sino-Russian cooperation has set off a small climax, and the series of activities held within the framework of the Exchange Year have enhanced the understanding and friendship between the young people of the two countries.

How to enhance people-to-people exchanges and pass on The friendship between China and Russia in the younger generation is an important issue facing the two countries in the future. Taking inter-school cooperation as the carrier to promote the complementarity of Educational Resources between China and Russia and enhance exchanges among young people is one of the effective ways to promote humanistic cooperation between China and Russia. Under the joint initiative and leadership of the leaders of China and Russia, the breadth and depth of cooperation between Chinese and Russian universities have been continuously expanded. In November 2013, the two countries established the China-Russia Economic University Alliance, and successively established the Sino-Russian Union of Engineering Universities and the Northeast China and the Russian Far East and Siberian Region Universities Alliance. In September 2017, Shenzhen Beili Moscow University, co-founded by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, Beijing Institute of Technology and Lomonosov Moscow State University, was officially enrolled, which is the first Sino-foreign cooperative university with independent legal personality between the two countries, and the first entity university of Sino-Russian cooperation.

Young people are the creators of the future, and when young people are strong, the country is strong, and if the youth are friendly, the country is friendlier. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his congratulatory letter at the opening ceremony of the 2014 "China-Russia Youth Friendly Exchange Year", "Youth is the future of the country, the future of Sino-Russian relations and the friendship between the chinese and Russian peoples." It is hoped that the young people of the two countries will keep pace with the times, conform to the general trend of the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, integrate their dreams into the cause of promoting the common development and common prosperity of China and Russia, and make positive contributions to the cause of friendship and a better future for China and Russia and the two peoples." It is believed that the young people of China and Russia will join hands, learn from each other and grow together, which will contribute to the construction of a building of friendship between the two peoples for generations, pave the way for creating a better tomorrow for Sino-Russian relations, and make greater contributions to safeguarding world peace and development.