Min Weifang, director of the University Council, delivered the opening speech. According to Mr. Min, the Festival was a result of the University’s Strategy of developing into a world-class university. As PKU deepened and expanded its cooperation with overseas counterparts, and improved the enrollment and education system for overseas students, it had attracted more and more overseas students in recent years. Against this background, the Festival was launched as a pilot program to exert positive effects upon students at the campus culture level. He hoped that the Festival would serve as a platform to contribute to developing PKU into a world-class university and promoting the exchanges between nations and cultures.

Overseas students from 57 countries and regions participated in the Festival, and 17 different kinds of activities were staged which lasted about a month. Among them, the Chinese Speech Contest for Overseas Students was organized for the first time in PKU.

The impact of the Festival continued was extended from the University community to Haidian district and even to the Beijing city. It attracted the attention and coverage of the mass media such as China Daily and Sohu.com, and participation of overseas students from other universities and colleges in Beijing, such as Beijing Institute of Technology and Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU).