Europalia opens window to China

The Belgian Jesuit missionary, mathematician and astronomer Ferdinand Verbiest, known as Nan Huairen in Chinese, arrived in China in 1659. He introduced Catholicism and worked as a diplomat, cartographer and translator. He became a close friend of Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) and was given the task by the Qing court of rebuilding the Beijing Ancient Observatory.

Now, some 350 years later, invited by Europalia, one of the leading arts festivals in Europe, Chinese artists and "missionaries" are embarking on a four-month cultural tour of Belgium to give Europeans a better understanding of the Middle Kingdom.

China's Vice-President Xi Jinping yesterday attended the opening ceremony at the Bozar, Brussels Center for Fine Arts, with Vice-Minister of Culture Zhao Shaohua and Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs Yves Leterme, to announce the formal opening of the Europalia China Festival.