CRI听力:Young Chinese and Americans optimistic about future of China-US ties, but perception gap remai

The event, entitled "From University to the World: 2020, China, the US, You and Me", has been co-organized by China Radio International and New York University, and has been supported by the Chinese Radio Network in New York.

The event at NYU is the first time a forum like this has been held at a US college.

Chinese panelist Chen Yiqi is about to begin her Master's Degree in International Law at NYU.

She says conflicts between the world's two largest economies in the world are somewhat unavoidable, but suggests this is just a small part of the overall relationship.

"Towards 2020, things will be better. But also there are lots of challenges between these two countries, because we always have some conflicts in our interest. These things are unavoidable, but they are the minority in our relationship. I think the majority of things will still be optimistic."

Based on a survey of around 500 Chinese and 350 American college students conducted ahead of the roundtable, most respondents say they believe bilateral ties between China and the US will keep improving in the coming years.

The two-hour discussion did appear to generate one area of consensus: Frequent communication will increase trust and reduce the possibility of conflict.

But all 10 taking part in the session do concede there is a perception gap that remains on both sides.

Tang Tianyi, a senior with Beijing Foreign Studies University, says young Chinese and American people need to get to know each other better.

"When I came to the US to have a summer course, one of my American peers asked me do you have McDonalds in China? So when I got this kind of reaction and I found that we don't know each other enough, so I think we should begin this kind of small things and then we can have deeper and insightful communication between us. And I believe this the reason we have this kind of activity - from University to the World here."

Christina Perry, an NYU undergraduate majoring in International Health Policy, echoes this view.

The 19-year-old, who has been in China twice, says mass media isn't doing a good job when it comes to portraying the real China or the real United States.

"A lot of Chinese people have a better understanding of American way of life because how the US is portrayed in the media, even though that might be a hypertely of what actually is like here. American media do not cover a lot of the issues as aesthetically as in China."

More information about the roundtable, including the results of the survey conducted before the session, simply go to crienglish.com.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi in New York.