LOS ANGELES, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen Chinese students studying in the western part of the United States received Chinese government scholarships for their academic excellence here on Sunday.
The 2018 Chinese Government Awards for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad were presented at a ceremony held at the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles.
Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles Zhang Ping said that the awards, set up by the Chinese Education Ministry in 2003, aim to honor and encourage self-funded overseas Chinese students to achieve outstanding academic accomplishments.
Zhang hoped the award-winning students would regard this as a motivation to achieve greater progress, and give back to society in the future.
Zhang also encouraged overseas Chinese students to continue promoting China-U.S. friendship as well as bilateral exchanges and cooperation.
Li Lei, one of the scholarship recipients, a Ph.D. student majoring in imaging techniques in biomedicine at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), said the award not only recognizes his scientific research accomplishment, but also encourages all overseas Chinese students to make more progress.
Another award winner, Li Mengying, a postdoctoral fellow researching solar grid integration at the University of California, San Diego, told Xinhua that China has attached great importance to new energy development, which has provided a very good opportunity for her research and future career back in the motherland.
Zhou Chongwu, a tutor of award-winning students and professor of electronic engineering at the University of Southern California, said the award has seen increasing influence in U.S. higher institutions, which also reveals China's growing national strength.
Jiang Zhenying, a tenured professor at Barstow University, who has been serving as a scholarship judge since 2003, told Xinhua that award-winning students were not only judged for their academic performance, innovation achievements and research topics, but also their sense of social responsibility, leadership and global perspectives.
This kind of award will help cultivate cross-border talents of the new generation, and boost educational exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, he added.
According to official statistics, a total of 500 Chinese students studying abroad received the scholarship in 2018, including 164 studying in the United States.
