For Abigail Washburn, a United States clawhammer banjo player and Grammy Award-winning singer, music has always been a universal language, one that crosses borders and opens doors to understanding.

Washburn, who also goes by her Chinese name Wang Aiping, meaning "love peace", has collaborated with Chinese folk musicians for more than two decades.

"I've been going back and forth to China since 1997, and it's been a huge part of who I've become," she told China Daily on Sunday during a media briefing for the US-China People's Dialogue 2025: Bridging the Cultural and Informational Divide in Los Angeles.

"I'm a musician, and I sing in English, but I also sing in Chinese," she said. Over the years, she has learned numerous Chinese folk songs from friends across the country and performed American Appalachian music throughout China. One of her most memorable experiences took place in Lanzhou, Gansu province, where she and her band collaborated onstage with a local player of the erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument) despite initial doubts from organizers.

"When we collaborate, we learn from each other, we change each other and often become friends and collaborators," Washburn said, adding that she hopes to return to China with her children and continue her personal mission of building bridges through music.

Washburn's story is one of many shared at the dialogue, cohosted by the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Yang Fan, a professor of media and communication studies at the University of Maryland, said people increasingly consume information from different channels, shaping divergent views of the world.

"Even in today's age of advanced media, many mechanisms distort what people can see and hear," she said. "That is why face-to-face communication, such as hearing individual stories like Washburn's, remains essential."

Curiosity matters

Robert Daly, former director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the US, argued that the primary challenge is not a lack of information, but a lack of curiosity.

"There's a declining mutual curiosity and interest between the two nations," Daly said. He pointed to the sharp decline in US tourists visiting China and the hesitation among some Chinese students to study in the US, a trend that reflects growing distance on both sides.

Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy, said: "We believe that people-to-people engagement can play a stabilizing role and help create a foundation for more resilient bilateral relations … Challenges come from politics, from economy, from military, but also from language, from technology … So we have to face it and bridge it."

For Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on US-China Relations, people-to-people exchange has always been the bedrock of bilateral relations.

"President Xi Jinping says it completely accurately: The foundation of US-China relations lies in the people-to-people exchange," Orlins said. "Without the foundation of the people-to-people, it all collapses."

Orlins recounted that the committee has helped advance relations for more than six decades, including hosting the Chinese table tennis delegation in 1972, a pivotal moment in modern diplomacy. However, he acknowledged that recent years have brought new challenges to these types of exchanges.

"We've faced challenges in this area," he said. The dialogue was launched in response, aiming to identify obstacles and recommend improvements to both governments. "We're seeing improvement in the government-to-government relationship, but if we don't improve the foundation, the structure is weak."