Poetry, Music Link Young Chinese and Russians on a Walk Through Shanghai's Old Streets

Students visit the Pushkin Monument at the Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area. 

Young people from China and Russia spent Sunday reading poetry together under the plane trees of Shanghai's Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area, an event marking the 2026-2027 China-Russia Years of Education.

The day began with a walk through the neighborhood. At the Pushkin Monument, students talked about the Russian classics, then moved on to the Cao Ying Study, which honors the translator who brought Leo Tolstoy's major works to Chinese readers.

"Mr Cao Ying spent his whole life helping Tolstoy's words take root in China," said a Russian student who joined the tour.

Young participants tour the Cao Ying Study during the cultural walk on Sunday.

The group then gathered at the Shanghai Writers' Association for a program of poems and songs. Classical poems about Shanghai by Lin Zaiyong, Party secretary of Shanghai Normal University, were read alongside Anna Akhmatova's verses on St Petersburg, linking the Huangpu River with the Neva.

Pushkin's "To Kern" was read, while an accordion played the Soviet-era favorite "The Hawthorn Tree," with Russian children singing the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower."

Speakers discuss youth exchange and cultural understanding at the Shanghai Writers' Association.

A Russian student reads classical poems about Shanghai by Lin Zaiyong.

Russian children sing the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower" during the event.