Ali Qadir and Raqibul Hassan, two international students from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, win a municipal “Wutong Award” on Dec 15. [Photo/nuaa.edu.cn]

Ali Qadir and Raqibul Hassan, two international students from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), won a municipal “Wutong Award” on Dec 15, for their years of dedication to public diplomacy. 

The annual award was named after wutong, or oriental plane tree, a common type found in Nanjing, and was set up by the Nanjing Public Diplomacy Association in 2014 to honor the individuals and groups who have made outstanding contributions to Nanjing’s public diplomacy development. 

Ali Qadir from Pakistan, a Chinese Government Scholarship winner who now pursues a master’s degree of international business and trade at NUAA, was named as the “Youth Ambassador” of the award. 

He was praised for his positive role in promoting public benefit activities in Nanjing, such as independently organizing a volunteer service team and carrying out voluntary teaching and community service activities. 

Raqibul Hassan, Ali’s schoolmate from Bangladesh, said he has been in China for six years. The much help he gained to overcome initial difficulties has inspired him to devote most of his spare time to volunteering. He started small from subway station services and went on volunteering at G20 Summit and Nanjing Youth Olympic Games.