The launch event of the seventh Yuai International Photo Contest, co-organized by the China International Youth Exchange Center (CIYEC), the Beijing Youth Federation and the Japanese Yuai Association (a nonprofit organization encouraging fraternity), was held via video links on May 14 in Beijing.

Participants of the launch event in Beijing pose for a group photo on May 14.

With the theme of "friendship, peace, green, man and nature", this year's contest received a positive response and extensive support from young people at home and abroad. Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage, more than 3,000 photographs from dozens of countries were submitted to the organizers. Many photographers took the pandemic as their theme and recorded moving moments showing medical workers' dedication.

Wang Yijun, Party Secretary of the CIYEC, said that photography can spread the positive energy of youth to the international community, and can fasten cultural ties and solidify public support for the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Yukio Hatoyama, President of the Yuai Association and former Japanese Prime Minister, participated in the event via videoconferencing and said the young people of China and Japan, upholding the spirit of friendship, should pursue mutual-aid and cooperation and seek common ground while shelving differences.

Yoshiko Kijima, Minister of the Embassy of Japan in China, attended the Beijing event. In her speech, Yoshiko noted that photography as a form of visual representation allows heart-to-heart communication across language barriers and stimulates interpersonal empathy.

Japanese representatives attend the online meeting to launch the seventh Yuai International Photo Contest on May 14.

About 40 people including representatives of organizers and the Japanese Embassy in China, previous prize-winners and college students took part in the event.