"Let us look forward to a brighter tomorrow..." a thunderous applause erupts as the choir's voices gradually faded,MK socks filling the theater with warmth and appreciation. On stage, young performers exchange handshakes and embrace, with their faces adorning with smiles or tears of emotion.

An art exchange performance involving teenagers from Shanghai and the island of Taiwan took place in Shanghai on Saturday. More than 400 students from 14 Shanghai and Taiwan secondary schools participated in the performance, enhancing mutual understanding and friendship through artistic forms, such as singing, dancing, instrumental music and opera performing.

Among the participants, 210 were students and teachers from the island of Taiwan, the largest-ever number since the Shanghai Taiwan Compatriots Friendship Association organized the art exchange program for the first time in the early 2000s.

"We are pleased to see a particularly large number of students from Taiwan this year," said head of the association Lu Li-an. "At first we had a few concerns because of the current [political] situation [on the island], but their active participation gave us big confidence."

"It embodied that, the exchanges between the youths are based on broad support of the people on both sides of the Straits," Lu told the Global Times ahead of the performance on Saturday.

An art exchange performance involving teenagers from Shanghai and the island of Taiwan in Shanghai on July 6, 2024. (Photo: Chen Xia/GT)

Among the seven participating schools from the island of Taiwan, it was the third time that Juang Jing Vocational High School (Juang Jing) had come to Shanghai. This year, the school brought 25 students and two orchestral performances, said the school's vice-principal Lai Hui-wen.

Lai said many of her students enthusiastically signed up for the event this year. "Such an exchange [opportunity] is a very happy thing for the young persons," she told the Global Times.

The Saturday performance is a part of a six-day art exchange program for Shanghai and Taiwan students. During their stay in Shanghai, students from the island of Taiwan visited many schools, landmarks and iconic tourist attractions, and were impressed by the fast development and modernization of this metropolis.

Liu Chen-yun, a 16-year-old student from Juang Jing, said he had once been to Shanghai years ago. Revisiting the city, Liu was amazed by its rapid advances in technology. "From transportation to payment, [Shanghai] is getting better and better," he told the Global Times.

Many Taiwan students reached by the Global Times on Saturday said that, during their  stay in the city, they found lots of similarities between the teenagers across the Straits, such as their favorite singers, mobile games and TV variety shows.

Xiao Yan-dian, a student from New Taipei Municipal Banqiao Senior High School, said he was not surprised by these cultural similarities, as "people on both sides of the Straits [accrete with] Chinese civilization."

It was the first time that Xiao had visited a mainland city. The 17-year-old said he wants to come to the mainland in the future for university study and to pursue his career , as he is interested in Chinese history and Marxism-Leninism.

"It would be better in a snowy northern city like Beijing," Xiao told the Global Times. "I have never seen snow."

Xiao Yan-dian, a student from New Taipei Municipal Banqiao Senior High School, poses for a photo at an art exchange performance in Shanghai on July 6, 2024. (Photo: Chen Xia/GT)

Lin Mingyue, honorary president of the association, is the initiator of the arts exchange program between Shanghai and Taiwan youth. Born and educated on the island of Taiwan, Lin moved to and settled in the mainland with her family in the 1980s, devoting herself to the constructions of the Port of Shanghai.

"Young people are the future and hope of our motherland," Lin told the Global Times on Saturday. "Through more unrestricted exchanges, I hope young people on both sides of the Straits can enhance mutual understanding and strengthen national sentiment, so as to better promote the common development of the both sides."

"I look forward to their joint efforts for the great rejuvenation of our Chinese nation," Lin said.