In October 2012, the Chair of the TKU Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Dr. Lin Gwo-Geng, led 23 Tamkang students to Tianjin, China, to take part in the 2012 Cross-Strait Youth Leadership Forum.

The forum was held at Tianjin University and was attended by students from both sides of the Strait. The Taiwanese contingent was made up of students from nine universities, including National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, and Soochow University. The forum explored what it is to be a youth leader from four different perspectives. It involved group discussions, in which students from Mainland China and Taiwan got to interact and converse.

Another highlight of the trip were the tours to the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, the Tianjin “Hai River”, as well as trips to the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, and the Beijing National Stadium (“Bird’s Nest”).