UK Chinese culture season to start in August

Lucy Watkins, cultural counselor of British Embassy in China, speaks at the press briefing. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

A press briefing on the upcoming Chinese culture season in UK was held on Friday morning at National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA). Officials from the Chinese Ministry of Culture as well as the British Embassy in China attended the conference and made presentations.

In the Joint Statement by the Chinese and British governments during the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to the UK last June, the two sides agreed to set 2015 as a year of UK-China cultural exchange.

The UK culture season in China started when Prince William added a final touch to a Shaun the Sheep sculpture in a traditional eye-dotting ceremony this March, and is about to come to the end at the end of July.

While in August, a Chinese culture season will kick off in Britain in which the best of contemporary Chinese culture will be presented until December including visual arts, folk arts, design, fashion, drama, music and dance.

Lucy Watkins, cultural counselor of the British Embassy in China, said at the press briefing that it is the first year of cultural exchange between China and the UK at a government level. During the UK culture season in China, more than 30 different activities and shows were held in succession, which not only deepened and strengthened the existing cooperation in the field of art and culture, but also created favorable conditions for both countries to go on with new opportunities for cooperation in the future.

Pu Tong, secretary of the Party Committee in the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture, expressed that they are happy to take the baton from their British contemporaries, and hold the Chinese culture season in the UK on the theme of Creative China in the second half of the year.

"China and UK both have a rich cultural heritage, cherish their traditional culture and attach importance to the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture. Innovation and creativity are very important to promote the development of culture and society, improve the level of cultural industry development and optimize the economic structure," Pu said.