The 11th Cross-Straits College Debate will be held July 20 to 25 in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, with 16 college teams debating a variety of topics.

Ke Shaoyu, vice chairman of the Fujian Association for Science and Technology (FAST), explains that eight college teams from the mainland and Taiwan, each consisting of seven members, will take part in the debate. The eight island teams include one from Soochow University, one of the most prominent schools, and one from Shih Hsin University. Both of the schools have been champions several times.

This year's mental competition will have some new faces from, for example, the mainland's Central South University, in Hunan province, Hohai University, Jiangsu province, and Guangxi University, and Taiwan's Chung Hsing University and China Medical University.

This year's topics provide a real challenge: a person can learn more from travel than from reading vs the other way round, business before social responsibility vs the other way round, and sports stars play a positive role in sports development vs sports stars do nothing for sports development. The judges will consist of four academics from each of the two sides of the Straits.

The event will also give the debaters a chance to visit Sanfangqixiang, a classical Fuzhousite that is popular with tourists. The Taiwan delegation will also travel to the cities of Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and others in Zhejiang province, along the Yangtze River, for a cultural experience.

Support for the event is coming from the mainland's China Association for Science and Technology and FAST, the leading force behind it. Others who are helping with the event are the Fujian Education Exchange Association, Youth Exchange Association of Taiwan, and the science organizations of the city of Shanghai, and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Hunan province, and the Guangxi region.

The debate dates back to 2002 and has been held consecutively for 10 years now, two times in Taiwan. It has grown into a sort of cultural brand and a symbol of cross-Straits youth communication. It moves back to the island next year.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw