Chen Wen-cheng from Beijing Sport University with his wife from Henan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

School support network

The government is working to address a broad range of situations Taiwan students are often confronted with, while in the meantime, the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan affairs offices in universities take care of their specific everyday needs.

Xiao Dan, who has worked with the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan affairs office in RUC for four years, says the office offers strong support to Taiwan students from their initial orientation period through to their graduation.

"We have organized activities like leadership training, reading salons and social events for them," says Xiao. "And in recent years, we have started custom-made maths courses to help students catch up, since the maths course at Taiwan high schools are often easier than those found in the mainland."

The burgeoning economy, beneficial policies and the hospitality of helpful teachers and peers in the mainland have been attracting Taiwan students for years, while their growing understanding of what it means to live in such a diverse society has reawakened their sense of cultural identity.

Yin Min-chi, 19, a sophomore at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, has already volunteered at a school in Northwest China, investigated a poverty alleviation program in a remote village in East China's Fujian province, and filmed a documentary about a retired miner at an abandoned mine in the Mentougou district of Beijing.

She now has a better grasp of mainland society thanks to her experiences and observations.

"Now I think the policies the government has developed to tackle social problems do make good sense," Yin says.

She says some of her friends in Taiwan doubted whether it was a wise choice to study journalism in the mainland, but she looks at it from a different perspective.

"I'm inspired by my classmates who aim to speak up for vulnerable groups," says Yin. "They are motivated by the desire to contribute to society instead of self-interest."

She says her teachers encouraged them to set aside any suppositions they may have had before digging deep into the subject matter.

"Similarly, only when students in Taiwan put aside stereotypes of the mainland, and then come here to live, to observe, and experience it for a long period of time, can they actually understand the mainland's development and the barriers needed to be overcome," Yin says.

"That's the ideal cross-Straits communication between young people in my mind."

Contact the writer at xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn