From 9-15 August, Shenzhen hosted the 5th flagship event of the 2011 EU-China Year of Youth, in the context of the 2011 "Universiade Youth Festival". The event gathered about 200 Chinese and European youth representatives from all 27 EU Members States.

The six days were packed with a variety of activities ranging from visits to a number of local companies, nationally televised entertainment events to workshops and discussions between European and Chinese youth representatives.

During their first two days in Shenzhen the EU delegates visited the ancient fortress of "Da Peng", the headquarters of Huawei Company (the world's second largest supplier of mobile telecommunications) and attended the World University Beach Music Festival in which European student bands from Cambridge University and the Free University of Berlin performed alongside a variety of bands from Australia, Africa, China and the US.

On the next day, the "EU-China Youth Forum for Participation" took place in the super-modern Vanke conference centre. The opening ceremony and keynote speeches focused on different aspects of youth participation in policy-making and were followed by working group discussions on the following topics:

• Voluntary Service
• Community Development and Service
• Welfare Protection of Youngsters
• Youth participation in Policy-making

The discussions mostly focused on questions of how youth policy and youth work is designed and implemented in China and Europe, on concrete mechanisms of youth work and case studies and examples from the various participants' countries.

On the 12^th of August, the EU delegates had the chance to attend the opening ceremony of Universiade – a colourful event of awe-inspiring magnitude, which took place in the brand new Shenzhen stadium.

The last two days of the week were spent in the city of Guangzhou. On the way there, the EU Delegation passed through an industrial zone (Dongguan) and visited, amongst others, a solar panel plant and a textile manufacturer. Visits in Guangzhou included Guangzhou children's palace, a huge high-tech state sponsored education centre for children and the Guangzhou museum, which provided a good opportunity to learn about the local history.

The various events of the 2011 Universiade Youth Festival & EU-China Youth Forum for Participation were widely covered in print/online media and TV. The national evening news also included a one minute segment about the visit of the EU delegates and the Forum for Participation.