More than 100 fencers from 17 Chinese and American universities gathered at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on August 13–14 for the 2026 China-U.S. College Fencing Invitational and People-to-People Exchange Camp.
Athletes compete during the invitational.
The invitational featured individual events in foil, sabre and épée, as well as mixed team events, with Chinese and American students teaming up to compete. Off the piste, participants toured the campus and visited Canton Tower.
Athletes visit the Canton Tower together.
Athletes visit a gift shop in Guangzhou.
For many of the American students, it was their first trip to China.
Carter Berrio, an Ohio State University fencer who took gold in the men's sabre, said he had worried before the trip that as a foreigner he might be seen as "a little different and not familiar." Instead, he found local people "really nice and welcoming and respectful," with a genuine interest in learning about his life and culture.
When comparing sabre techniques with Chinese fencers, he noticed differences in their preparation and timing, something he said he had "never thought of ... that way" and found "really cool."
Men's sabre gold medalist Carter Berrio (left) high-fives a Chinese fencer during the competition.
Zhai Haoyu, a senior at Sun Yat-sen University, offered a host's perspective. Between matches, he showed a fencer he had just met from the University of Pennsylvania around campus and introduced him to Guangzhou's yum cha (traditional tea and dim sum) culture.
"I really love this kind of cross-cultural exchange," Zhai said, adding that the event gave athletes an opportunity to learn from each other's styles and techniques.
He described the competition's spirit as leaning toward friendship: "It's still a competition, so of course we want to win, but we were rivals on the piste and close friends off it."
Now in its third consecutive year, the fencing invitational and people-to-people exchange camp was jointly organized by the China Center for International People-to-People Exchange and Sun Yat-sen University.
At the awards ceremony on August 14, Yu Changxue, director-general of the center, said what moved him most was not the results, but the way young people from China and the U.S. set aside differences and connected off the piste.
Zhang Qi, a leader at Sun Yat-sen University, said this year's event was the largest yet and expressed hope that young people from both countries would return to Guangdong for future exchanges.
Reporter | Chen Siyuan
Photos | Sun Yat-sen University
