Sino-U.S. Youth Bird-Friendly City Innovation Contest & Exchange Activity
June 06, 2025
The U.S. Award Ceremony of the “Eagle City: Sino-U.S. Youth Bird-Friendly City Innovation Contest” was held in Irvine, California. Organized by the Chongqing Luhai International Communication Foundation and hosted by the Southern California Chinese Economic and Cultural Association, the event promotes cross-cultural dialogue among youth through ecological themes, strengthening people-to-people ties and advancing sustainability awareness. Highlight International Art Center was honored to serve as a co-host for this grand event, bringing together the talents of youth from both nations to jointly envision a shared future of harmony between humanity and nature.
Can Chen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Luhai Foundation (second from the left) & Dongping Huang , President of the Southern California Chinese Economic and Cultural Association (second from the right)
The event received support from local elected officials. Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner sent a letter of appreciation, commending the Luhai Foundation’s role in fostering U.S.-China cultural ties. Irvine City Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, represented by Austin Dick, delivered remarks welcoming Chinese youth to the U.S. and encouraging joint exploration of nature and biodiversity protection.
Hosts (from left) : Brian Yan， Sky Patterson， 郭湘宁
The competition finally unveiled a number of awards such as special prizes and first prizes. The award-winning works cover intelligent bird's nest design, urban wetland ecological planning and other innovative fields, fully demonstrating the diverse wisdom and infinite enthusiasm of Chinese and American teenagers to build a "bird-friendly city".
Winning student representatives Jerar Palian (left) & Sasha Vershynin (right) From bird club delivered their acceptance speeches.
First Prize Winning student representatives Yichen Xiang delivered acceptance speeches.
Youth Representative Yifan Zhao from Chongqing, China shared her reflection: “Visiting American bird conservation groups has shown me that just like migratory birds transcend borders, so must our efforts to protect them.” American student awardee Joshua Sherman echoed this sentiment, calling for community-wide action: “From schools to neighborhoods, from watching one bird to protecting entire forests—everyone has a role in ecological protection.”
Chinese Youth Representative Yifan Zhao shared her reflection
Luke Passey & Josh Sherman from Ornithology Club received the Outstanding Award
Brian Yan received the Outstanding Award and was interviewed by the media.
The "Eagle Flying City" competition is symbolized by the eagle, which is not only a fierce clash of creativity, but also an enlightenment of ecological concepts across the Pacific Ocean. This activity is not only a powerful witness to ecological connection, but also a vivid practice of the concept of the community of human destiny. In the future, this bridge of friendship forged by youth and nature will continue to extend, so that the hope of cooperation and green dreams will fly high in the hearts of the young people of the two countries.
