WASHINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of 37 Chinese students studying in the United States on Friday received the 2018 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad at the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

Minister of the Chinese Embassy to the United States Li Kexin told the ceremony that overseas students are the facilitators of the future China-U.S. relations. He expected awarded students to contribute to the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in academia and education.

The Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad is a scholarship set up by the China Scholarship Council in 2003 to honor overseas Chinese students with outstanding academic accomplishments.

Yao Yuangang, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland, won the top award of the scholarship.

"I am so grateful to have the award. I hope overseas students could focus more on China's development, and contribute to the home country after finishing their study," he told Xinhua.

According to official statistics, 500 Chinese students studying abroad received the scholarship in 2018.