Mariana Escalante visits an eco-friendly power company in Nanjing, East China"s Jiangsu Province, on June 11, 2026. Photo: Courtesy of Escalante

　　From plans to everyday life

　　For Escalante, this trip to China was far from her first encounter with the country.

　　A professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and founder of Mexican Association of Sinology, she has visited China many times before - yet each journey still brings fresh discoveries. "China is a country that changes at an impressive speed, so I try to visit as often as possible," she told the Global Times. "Every trip allows me to observe new processes, and compare what I study in texts with how policies are implemented."

　　Robalino approached her China visit with a broader set of expectations. Her institution, Ecuador"s National Institute of Advanced Studies, has a Center for Chinese Studies, and this trip was meant to deepen existing academic ties. As a scholar of public policy and innovation, she also hoped to observe firsthand how China builds state capacity.

　　With different expectations, the delegation set off on a "dialogue" spanning mountains and seas. In Shanghai, the Latin American scholars visited the city"s urban planning exhibition center and also stepped into one of its most local residential communities. If the former showed them how a metropolis is "planned" into being, the field visit to Block 228 Changbai New Village Subdistrict, or Changbai 228, revealed how planning is translated into everyday life - through the leadership and support of CPC organizations at every level.