Iran-China cultural relations flourish
Iran and China have many things in common and the two nations are very close culturally. Two of the world's oldest civilizations, they were connected by the ancient Silk Road.
The Persian Empire, stretching in its heyday from the Indus River in the east to the Mediterranean in the west and from the Ural Mountains in the north to Egypt in the south, had an undeniable impact on Chinese civilization.
Iran was the middle state of West Asia, while China was the middle state of East Asia, and the two countries had a significant exchange of cultures throughout history.
In 1983, the agreement on Iranian-Chinese cultural, scientific and technical cooperation was signed in Beijing. Since then, Iran and China have signed agreements for five cultural exchange programs, while the agreement for the sixth program is to be signed soon.
In 1986, a project on Iran-China radio-television cooperation was signed in Teheran.
In 2006, Dr Wang Meng, the great writer and China's former minister of culture, embarked on a lecture tour of Iran, visiting several cultural institutions. Last year, he published his book Travel to Iran.
The exchange of scholars, students and artists between Iran and China assumed significant proportions last year.
Further, the famous Iranian film director Majid Majidi was invited by the Beijing Municipality in 2006 to shoot a documentary short film introducing the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games to the world.
(China Daily 02/18/2008 page16)
