A youth exchange delegation from Hubei province, including Olympic gymnastic champion Yang Wei and badminton world champion Wei Yili, has come to Hong Kong to offer insights on their winning ways.

The delegation, which also includes university professor Tan Bien, volunteer teacher Xu Benyu and businessman Wang Xuehai, visited two Hong Kong middle schools on Tuesday, sharing their ideas about becoming successful.

Their stops were at True Light Girls' College and Newman Catholic College.

The delegation is also to carry out the mission to communicate to the young people they meet a better understanding of Hubei province and the mainland in general, in addition to providing references and experiences about dreams and reaching one's goals.

"You need to make great efforts and suffer a great deal to achieve success," said Yang Wei, the Olympic gymnastics gold medalist.

He also emphasized the importance of "team spirit" in any field of endeavor.

He told the students the reason he chose to practice gymnastics was very simple - to build up his body.

After joining the national team, Yang said he felt great competitive pressure and learned to give his best in every event.

A student surnamed Chiu from True Light Girls' College said she admired Yang's diligent spirit in giving up much of his free time and family life to rigorous training.

Another student said she understands the importance of hard work and perseverance after hearing Yang. She said she hoped to apply the same spirit to playing basketball, which is her personal passion.

Xu Benyu, who had been a volunteer teacher in impoverished mountainous areas of Guizhou province for two years, said though the working environment was very demanding, he felt happy helping others and was also moved by his students.

Later, he continued his volunteer work. He traveled to Africa to teach Chinese, and became a volunteer at the Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo and Shenzhen Universiade.

Xu said: "I learned a lot from being a volunteer and became more mature from my precious experiences. I want to continue to serve others for the rest of my life."

A student from Newman Catholic College said he volunteered in his free time at the Red Cross society for four years, and then traveled to the Philippines to look after elders and be company to those who feel lonely.

The delegation had visited SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School and SKH Bishop Hall Secondary School on Monday. It will visit ELCHK Lutheran Secondary School on Wednesday.

fanfeifei@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 12/14/2011 page1)