The newly-built campus in Fuzhou’s Mawei district has injected a new energy into the Cross-Straits Youth Festival, a high-profile event aiming to bring together young people from Taiwan and the mainland that is currently taking place in the Fujian provincial capital.

A total of 14 activities will be held at the new center during the festival, which runs from Aug 9 to 14, including the Straits Youth Summit.

Designed to provide a long-term platform for building cross-Straits ties, the site fulfills a wide range of functions. It now houses an exhibition and conference center, a cultural quarter, dorms and hostels, as well as movie theaters and supermarkets.

A second phase of construction slated for the end of 2017 will add two business incubators that will have space to house 1,000 to 1,500 young entrepreneurs, and a five-star hotel, according to Chen Jie, vide general manager of Fuzhou culture and tourism investment group, the body leading the construction project.

The centerpiece of the new complex is the conference center, a modern four-storey building that houses a theater, a large banquet hall and various meeting spaces. The building will hold several important events during this year’s festival.

Senior middle school students from Kaohsiung, Taiwan walk towards the conference center at the permanent venue for the Cross-Straits Youth Festival. The new complex is being put into use for the first time this year. [Photo/Fujian Daily]