BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) — A group of young scholars from Nanjing University this week received a reply to a letter they sent to Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the university celebrated its 120th anniversary of founding.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has always managed to find time to reply to letters from ordinary people despite his busy work schedule.

From January to May, Xi has sent out at least eight letters. The recipients include young students, space station developers, senior professors, mayors from the United States, and even pupils in Britain.

Youth development is a recurring theme. In this week's letter, Xi expressed his hope for the young scholars to make new achievements in boosting China's strength in science and technology.

Ahead of China's Youth Day on May 4, Xi wrote to a youth team working on space station construction at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

China's space industry has continuously made new advancements, Xi said in the letter, adding that many young people in the sector have taken the lead and shouldered key responsibilities.

For young Chinese people, the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, a highly significant event in China this year, also offered an arena to give full play to their talents. And Xi wrote about the Games in three of his letters this year.

In the reply to a letter from Chinese snowboarder Su Yiming, who won gold in the Beijing 2022 men's snowboard big air and silver in the men's snowboard slopestyle, Xi extended congratulations to Su and other athletes, saying "the new era is the era of dream chasers, and also the era for young people to realize their dreams."

By and large, some 346 million Chinese have participated in winter sports activities so far.

The Games injected fresh momentum into the endeavor to build a healthy China and promote the people's well-being, and broadened the prospects for the global development of winter sports, Xi said in another letter this March, replying to Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee.

But the Chinese president does not just exchange correspondence with international VIPs.

In late January, ahead of the Chinese New Year, Xi replied separately to letters from two mayors of the state of Washington in the United States. He stated China's commitment to presenting a streamlined, safe and splendid Games and extended the season's greetings to all citizens of the two cities.

Adam Foster, president of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation, was another American who received a letter from the Chinese president.

He is a great-nephew of late journalist Helen Foster Snow, known for her writings on the Communist Party of China before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Xi said the Chinese people bear in mind the contributions made by international friends to China's revolution and construction, and he highly appreciates the positive contributions made by the Helen Foster Snow family to the development of China-U.S. relations over the years.

The youngest recipients of Xi's letters were a group of primary school pupils in Britain. But they talked about a big global issue — climate change.

In April, Xi replied to students at Britain's Francis Holland School, addressing their concerns about climate change. Xi said that "as climate change poses a common challenge to all humanity, mankind should cooperate to tackle the issue."

In the letter, Xi encouraged the British pupils to come to visit China, especially doing a tour of the world's largest wind power plant and solar power station, communicate with their Chinese peers, and grow up to become active builders of the beautiful home for mankind.

(Source: Xinhua)