01 Jun 2026
5月24日，题为“在西浦，庆未来” 的第四届西浦国际日成功举行，吸引了西浦师生、校友及苏州市民等逾两千人参加。在众多活动展区中，媒体与传播学系师生共同设计的“媒体实验室”集创意、游戏、知识于一身，在庆祝建校二十周年的同时，以寓教于乐的方式让参与者增进对媒体传播的理解。
More than 2,000 visitors attended Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s International Day on 25 May, taking part in cultural exhibits, interactive activities and cross-cultural exchanges involving students, staff, alumni and local residents.
Coinciding with XJTLU’s 20th anniversary, this year’s event was organised around the concept of “ Discover XJTLU Journey Through Time” to celebrate the university’s development over the past two decades.
Held under the theme “Let’s Celebrate!,” the event featured a range of attractions, including the Department of Media and Communication’s “Media Lab” booth, which drew crowds with a selfie mirror, quizzes and hands-on activities.
Visitors also explored four interactive stations, including a photo booth that created personalized newspaper front pages portraying participants as graduates from XJTLU’s inaugural class, a voice station named “Heartfelt Message Booth” for recording birthday messages to the university, “Milestone Challenge Ring,” a ring toss activity highlighting XJTLU’s key milestones, and a collaborative graffiti project titled “Mirror of Life.”
The activities encouraged participants to celebrate the milestone through interactive experiences. “We hope visitors can experience XJTLU’s international journey over the past 20 years,” said Shaofei Wang, marketing officer at University Marketing and Communications.
To match the anniversary theme, the DMC booth featured a selfie mirror, with depictions of the university mascot, Captain Bird, drawn by the DMC students and staff. The mirror attracted many visitors, who stopped by to take photos.
“We included a selfie mirror to encourage interaction and create a fun atmosphere,” said Nan Hu, an assistant professor at the DMC and the chief organiser of the booth.
The DMC booth features a selfie mirror during XJTLU International Day. Photo by Tianxiang Zhang.
Besides the selfie mirror, the highlight of the DMC booth was its interactive games. Academic staff and students from DMC designed a themed quiz activity based on the programme’s three main tracks: film, journalism, and digital media. Participants randomly selected questions from mystery boxes of different themes and received corresponding rewards based on the number of correct answers.
In the journalism section, visitors matched international news organizations with their countries. The film section asked participants to identify movies from famous quotes. The digital media section focused on internet slang and online culture.
Three mystery boxes on display for the quiz game at the booth. Photo by Tianxiang Zhang.
Haoran Yang, a Year 2 DMC student and booth organiser, said the team aimed to turn classroom content into an interactive public experience. They wanted to help more people understand different fields in media and communication studies.
Yang said, “Some film questions came from classic films we studied in the Foundations in Film Studies module.”
Marking XJTLU’s 20th anniversary, DMC academic staff and students used these interactive activities to introduce the programme. They aimed to help participants understand how media and communication shape daily life, popular culture, and global information exchange through interactive gameplay.
Student volunteers Haoran Yang (front), a Year 2 Media and Communication student and Yuyang Lin (rear), a Year 2 Electrical Engineering student, take questions from visitors. Photo by Hao Feng.
More than 20 schools and departments took part in this year’s International Day, including the DMC. At the DMC booth, many visitors lined up to join the games and engaged in conversations about media and communication with the staff. Guinet Romane, an International Business School exchange student, said the booth introduced her to new cultural content. “I learned more about media, culture, and films that I did not know before,” she said. “The questions were more challenging than those at other booths, which made them more enjoyable.”
International Business School exchange students Guinet Romane (right) and Miller Runquist (left) take part in a quiz game with prizes. Photo by Tianxiang Zhang.
XJTLU is home to students and staff from about 95 countries and territories. As of September 2025, the university employed about 1,800 academic staff members. Around 1,300 of them were full-time international faculty members.
In addition to booths showcasing different departments, the Global Cultural Market area also drew attention. It brought together students from countries including the United States, South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, Canada, and France. They shared cultural traditions through food, traditional clothing, cultural displays, and interactive games.
Visitors gather around the French booth. Photo by Hao Feng.
“This year’s event was larger than in previous years,” Wang said. “It strengthened collaboration among different schools and departments on campus and attracted more members of the public.”
According to UMC statistics, this year’s International Day drew more than 2,000 visitors. They included students, staff, alumni, Suzhou residents, and teachers and students from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Affiliated School, located in Wuzhong District, Suzhou.
Suzhou resident Xinliuting Su said the event reflected the value of cultural diversity. “People could communicate in either Chinese or English,” she said. “Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience regardless of language.”
International Day is one of XJTLU’s major cultural events. It was first held in 2019. The event aims to showcase Suzhou’s open and inclusive environment while promoting cross-cultural exchange and global understanding.
Story by SIRUI ZHONG and HAO FENG/ DMC Newsletter.
Courtesy of the Scholastic Journalism Team, Department of Media and Communication, XJTLU.
01 Jun 2026