Arabian art festival adds hint of the exotic to Jingdezhen

There was a distinct touch of Arabia in Jingdezhen city, East China's Jiangxi province, in mid-December. At a local festival celebrating Arab arts, an Arab youth was waving exotic products at tourists who looked at them with curiosity. Both sides exchanged their views and opinions with the aid of phone translation.

It was part of the fifth Arabic Arts Festival held last month. The event saw in-depth cultural exchanges between artists from China and Arab countries, and showcased the unique charm of Jingdezhen, also known as China's porcelain capital.

Maimona A.M. Khalid, minister of the Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan in China, said at the event that, although she had just arrived in China, the country was not strange to her.

"Sudan and China have a long history of interaction, the Silk Road binds us together and we have many stories to share with you," Khalid says.

"This is my first time in Jingdezhen, and I have heard that there is a famous ceramic university here that is committed to ceramic design and production. We hope to have more cooperation with this university and do exchange programs such as sending international students to each other," she says, adding that she believes this will be an important contribution to deepening friendship and exchanges between the two countries. "In the future, I also hope to have the opportunity to visit Jingdezhen again and invite my family and friends to travel with me."

The festival is considered an implementation of the results from the first China-Arab States Summit that was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, earlier last month.

Liu Feng, Party secretary of Jingdezhen, says that, although the city and Arab countries are thousands of kilometers away from each other, the friendship is connected.

Jingdezhen will strive to become an important carrier of cultural exchanges and show the charm of Chinese culture in the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, Liu says.

Hu Pinghua, director of the foreign affairs office of Jingdezhen, says that in recent years, a number of artists from Arab countries have settled in Jingdezhen to learn, exchange and create art. Hu says that she looks forward to welcoming more Arab tourists to China, to Jiangxi and to Jingdezhen, to unveil a new chapter of China-Arab cultural exchange.

The festival covered a series of cultural exchange activities, such as performances, a cultural industry forum and an exhibition featuring works by Arab and Chinese artists.

A total of 80 paintings, 20 sculptures and 20 porcelain works by Arab artists, as well as 30 porcelain works created by Chinese artists for the festival, were on display during the exhibition.

Over the past decade or so, more than 170 artists from 22 Arab countries have been invited to places across China to draw artistic inspiration for their work. They produced a total of 549 paintings, sculptures and porcelain works, which have been collected by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

At the China-Arab culture industry forum that was staged during the festival, nearly 30 representatives from China and nine Arab countries exchanged views on future bilateral cooperation in cultural industries.

At the same time, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism unveiled the 2022 China-Arab cultural industry Jingdezhen initiative.

The cultural sector cooperation between China and the Arab countries has a good foundation and broad prospects, according to the initiative.

In the new era and situation, China is willing to work with Arab countries to further consolidate practical cooperation in traditional fields, continue to enrich and expand new areas of cultural industry, continuously promote the exchange and mutual appreciation of civilizations, and make every effort to build a China-Arab community with a shared future. It adds that the goal is to jointly create a bright future for China-Arab relations.

Since 2006, the Arabic Arts Festival has been held every four years in China. Last month's event was co-hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Jiangxi provincial people's government, alongside the secretariat of the Arab League.

After years of development, the Arabic Arts Festival has become an important cultural and artistic exchange platform for promoting the spirit of the Silk Road and deepening China-Arab friendship and cooperation.