The scholarship award ceremony was held in Peking University on Saturday. The top prize winner got 8,000 yuan (about US$1,000) to finance their schooling.

Frank Peng Ge, president of Boya Elite International Exchange, Li Junkai, deputy director of Peking University Employment Center, Kenneth Tsang chairman of the CFL Project, and Wang Qifen, deputy party secretary of School of International Relations of Peking University (front row, from right) pose with scholarship winners in Beijing December 2, 2006.

The CFL project is a leading Sino-American exchange program. Students of academic excellence are selected from 50 internationally renowned universities to receive classroom and field training on leadership through exchanges with professors and students from Harvard, Columbia, MIT and Stanford, and an annual tour of CFL's nation-wide leadership forum.

Also, successful applicants can widen their international horizon through visits to international conglomerates in the US, according to Mr. Kenneth Tsang, chairman of the CFL Project.

Tsang said the 16 scholarship winners were selected by the criteria of attitude in life and their English, both spoken and written, and this is part of a larger effort to encourage students in their pursuit of knowledge and learning.

"Students will have to be ready to embark on their future career where they can put their years of learning and preparation to good use, and will need to be ready to assume responsibilities and tasks, and take up new challenges," said Tsang.

The pool of talents is enormous in China, but the opportunities to receive education overseas and to have the chance to exchange with foreign students of different race, religion, culture and value are limited.

"The CFL project provides students with a unique opportunity to broaden their international horizon and to strengthen their leadership capability," said Frank Peng Ge, president of Boya Elite International Exchange.

This long-term scholarship project will be a support for the realization of China's strategy of prospering the nation through science and education, Ge said.