Chongqing- To showcase Chongqing's hospitality and enhance people-to-people ties among the Mekong countries, the 2022 New Year Gala for Lancang-Mekong Youth in Chongqing was held on January 28 at the Chongqing Jialing River Cableway Museum on the occasion of the Year of the Tiger. 

Representatives from the embassies and consulates of Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and other Mekong countries in China sent special video messages for this event. Nearly 30 representatives of international students from Mekong countries in Chongqing, representatives of Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries' institutions in Chongqing gathered together to share traditional Chinese New Year food, enjoy Bayu folklore and the beauty of the mountain city. The overseas audience celebrated the traditional Chinese New Year through popular social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. International students actively broadcasted the event through their personal social media accounts, sharing the strong flavor of Chinese New Year and the joy of Chinese New Year to their friends and relatives. iChongqing has recorded the activities through a live stream on Facebook and Youtube.

At the event, guests were guided by inheritors of Liangping Woodblock New Year Prints and paper-cutting to experience the unique intangible cultural heritage projects and actively participated in traditional Chinese New Year customs such as wrapping dumplings and tying lanterns. The local music team of Chongqing, Yuanchu Music Group, presented a song "The Friendship of Mekong River" that was specially composed for this event, which was well-received by the participants. The youths from Mekong countries enjoyed a joyful and peaceful time. The event also prepared "Chongqing gifts" for the participants, such as luxury cruise tickets to the Yangtze River Three Gorges, experience vouchers to Hot Springs, tickets for World Natural Heritage - Wulong Karst Scenic Area and live performance "Impression of Wulong", to promote Chongqing's high-quality tourism resources.

Pham Linh Phuong, a Vietnamese student from Southwest University of Political Science and Law, mentioned that she had gained friendliness, patience, and warmth during her three years of study in Chongqing, and had fallen in love with the spicy Chongqing hotpot and the straightforward and enthusiastic Chongqing people. In the future, she will strive to be a carrier of cultural exchange and contribute her strength to building the community of destiny of the Lancang-Mekong countries together.

The event was well-received by international students from Mekong countries. They said that Chongqing and the Mekong countries are connected by mountains and water and are like a family, although they cannot reunite with their relatives due to the epidemic, Chongqing is a warm second hometown.

In October 2021, the first Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance Conference was successfully held in Chongqing, deepening the cultural and tourism cooperation between Chongqing and the Mekong countries. In the next step, Chongqing will focus on relying on the international cooperation platform of the Mekong Tourism City Cooperation Alliance, giving full play to the advantages of geographical location, cultural tourism industry, and regional linkage, accelerating the promotion of bilateral and multilateral resource sharing.