Boy Scout Group to Visit China

Chinese and U.S. relations have long stumbled over human rights, trade and arms reduction. Add to that list of differences the Boy Scouts of America.

Hoping to someday end China’s decades-old ban on Scouting, Scouts from the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys are heading west today to show educators in four of China’s largest cities what U.S. Scouts do--things like Native American dances and flag ceremonies.

Scouting was banned by Chairman Mao Tse-tung after the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. China opted instead for the Youth Pioneer Program, a Soviet version of the Scouts with heavy emphasis on Communist ideology.

The Scout trip follows three years of visits to the United States by Chinese educators and students who were so impressed with the Scouts that they created their own Boy Scout troop, based in the San Gabriel Valley, made up of Chinese youths visiting the United States on cultural exchange programs.

The troop has about 160 Scouts and adult leaders.

The California Scouts’ tour will include stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Xi’an. Seven boy Scouts, 10 other Southern California students--from elementary school to college age--and 37 educators will tour Chinese schools and talk to officials about the U.S. educational system.