With a view to expanding the cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China initiated several years ago a gala cultural event entitled Experiencing China. So far, the event has been held in four of the five continents and eight countries such as The United States, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Argentina and so on have hosted the event. Africa is the only continent that remains to be reached.
Hundreds of best performing artists and the best antique artifacts are carefully selected and collected nationwide to give performances and to be exhibited during each event. The specially tailored programs depicting different aspects of the rich Chinese culture always attract great interest of the general public and it has become a festival of a country when the event is held there. In addition to the popular attendance at the colorful programs of the event, it has become common practice for the leaders of the host countries to grace the event by their personal presence and/or by sending congratulatory messages.
The event has helped great deal in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and the host countries. The successful experience gained in the last few years has further convinced China that cultural exchange among nations represents one of the effective ways to promote peace and harmony in the world which is still ridden with hatred, distrust and misunderstanding, and that peoples of different countries have lot to learn and gain from each other culturally.
China has proposed to launch the gala cultural event in South Africa as it is an extremely important African country to which China attaches great importance and with which China has formed strategic partnership. The proposal has been readily accepted by the government of South Africa. In fact, it has been written into the Program of Cooperation on Deepening the Strategic Partnership between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa signed by the South African President Thabo Mbeki and the then visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Cape Town on June 21st, 2006. During their official talks, the two leaders all emphasized the importance of cultural exchanges in bilateral relations and pledged to give full support to the organization of the event which will be the largest and the most important cultural event ever held between the two countries.
The details of the event are as follows:
l The official event title is: 2006' Experiencing China in South Africa
l The event will last for about one month from November 1 to 30, 2006.
l The event will be co-sponsored by the Information office of the State Council of China, the Department of the Arts and Culture of South Africa and the Chinese Embassy in South Africa.
l The Northern Flagship Institution of South Africa is the organizer for holding the Exhibition of China Fine Arts and Crafts at the National Culture History Museum in Pretoria.
l The event will be held in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
l The event will consist of four major parts. Part one: performances by a 53-member Tang Dynasty-Style Song and Dance Ensemble, a 35-member Shaolin Martial Art Troupe, an 18-member Folk Music Group and a 50-member Fashion Show Group; Part two: two exhibitions with one showing the best collection of the Chinese arts and crafts and the other displaying photos taken in China by both Chinese and foreign photographers; Part three: a Chinese TV-week during which TV series covering various aspects of Chinese culture will be shown; Part four: a lunch forum at which a keynote speech on the role of cultural exchange in promotion of peace and harmony in the world will be presented by a senior official from China.