On April 9th in Dunhuang International Exhibition Center held the 2021 “Culture City of East Asia” Dunhuang Activity Year guided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and People’s Government in Gansu Province and co-organized by Gansu Province Cultural and Tourism Department, Gansu Province People’s Government Foreign Affairs Office, Jiuquan City People’s Government and Dunhuang Academy. More than 400 guests attended the opening ceremony, including Zhang Xu, vice cultural and tourism minister, He Wei, vice governor of People’s Government of Gansu Province, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from Japanese Embassy in China, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Xi’an, Minister Counselor of Embassy of South Korea in China, Chen Dehai, general secretary of ASEAN-China Centre and Consul General of Cambodia in Xi’an.
Zhang Xu said in his speech that “Culture City of East Asia” is an important measure to carry out consensus reached in the China-Japan-South Korea summit and is a cultural cooperation brand of east Asia created for the innovation and upgrade of practical cultural and tourism cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea. It also increases people-to-people exchanges and improves the development and construction of cities in these three countries. He hopes that with this opportunity, the government can build a network of more intense cultural communication to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between people in these three countries.
He Wei said in his speech that cultural communication between Gansu Province and Japan, South Korea and other countries in east Asia started thousands of years ago. Amazing culture in Dunhuang is the result of longterm communication between cultures along the silk road and an example of cultural integration between different civilizations in the world. It’s an honor as well as a responsibility for Dunhuang to be selected as “Culture City of East Asia”, with which, the this city can add more vitality and driving force to international cultural communication and mutual learning.
Representatives of Japan and South Korea said in their speeches that China, Japan and South Korea are connected both geographically and culturally. With the ideology of “respecting cultural diversity of China, Japan and South Korea”, these three countries push forward the communication between cities named “Culture City of East Asia” to enhance our friendship. Cities selected as the “Culture City of East Asia” can see it as an opportunity to have more communication and cooperation in different sectors between these three countries so as to improve the friendship between people.
Supporting activities in the opening ceremony are caligraphy and painting exhibition called “Affection of Dunhuang”, digital Dunhuang exhibition called “Beatiful Land along the Silk Road” and theme cultural innovation exhibition named “Chao Qi”.
“Culture City of East Asia” is a main regional cultural cooperation brand decided in the Cultural Ministers’ Conference between China, Japan and South Korea and is a city internet platform to implement the strategy to build a country with strong culture so as to serve the "dual circulation" development pattern in which domestic economic cycle plays a leading role while international economic cycle remains its extension and supplement. Since 2012, 23 cities in these three countries have won the “Culture City of East Asia”. in 2021, the government in Dunhuang plans to hold a series of cultural and tourism communication with rich content and diversified form. The theme is “people’s Dunhuang, a palace for culture”. There will be more communication and cooperation with cities in Japan and South Korea to improve the level of construction and development in cities.