Interactive Cultural Exchange Years

Gennady Zyuganov, chief of the Russian Communist Party, was deeply impressed by the exhibition, saying Russia should learn from China's rapid development.

"We should learn from China's development experience and turn our eyes away from the pattern of the West, including the United States," said Zyuganov.

Russian TV stations, newspapers and websites broadcasted live or made the opening ceremony of the theme year and the exhibition their lead stories, and highlighted China's achievements in aviation, ship-building, information technology and other sectors.

The Commersant and Rossiskaya Gazeta, two key newspapers in the country, published special issues for the theme year, introducing to their readers an overall view of China, covering various aspects such as politics, foreign policy, economy and trade, history and culture.

The theme year's more than 200 festivities included a cultural festival, an exhibition of fine porcelain and another of treasure from the Forbidden City, as well as acrobatics performances, ballet and Shaolin Kung fu.

2007 China-France Culture Communication Festival

The 2007 Sino-French Communication Festival began on April 12 and lasted till mid June.

The China-France Culture Communication Festival was a culture exchange activity supported by the Chinese and French governments after the success of Sino-French Year. Compared with last year's event, this year's festival featured a larger scale, richer content and more categories of art with visual arts and stage arts included. More than 100 cultural performances ranging from operas, concerts, movies, dances and plays, to literature activities, architecture, photograph exhibitions and fashion shows were held in 14 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Wuhan, with about 100 French and Chinese artists involved.

Among the various programs, two literary activities stand out: the recitation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" in French and Chinese and the poetry recitation activity "The Spring of Poets."

The popular activities which featured French culture, such as fashion shows, architecture and photograph exhibitions were held next. A great many new French movies were shown in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan during the French Movie Festival.

From May 26 to July 28, more than 200 world-ranked art collections from about 20 French castles and museums including Palace of Versailles were exhibited in Beijing Laffitte Chateauotel. The exhibits included hand-made tapestries, porcelains, the jewelry of celebrities, exquisite furniture, statuaries, famous paintings and so on. Some famous masterpieces were also on display, such as collections from Chateau de Chenonceau. The portraits of young Louis XIV and XV which haven't been exhibited publicly before were also included.

Bai Shangren, art director of the Sino-French Festival Culture Communication Festival, said that holding such an exchange activity doesn't mean setting up a French symbol in Asia but providing an opportunity for mutual understanding. The event is based on the cooperation of both sides and carries on the mission of Sino-French Year.

The year of Greek Culture in China

"The year of Greek Culture in China" featuring an ambitious array of events was launched to showcase both ancient Hellenic culture and modern Greece.　

Greek Culture Minister Michalis Liapis said the aim of the event was to attract global interest "by constantly presenting a flavor of Greek culture in the country which is organizing the 2008 Olympic Games".

The Minister noted that they aimed to "present the modern character and the development over history of Greek civilization to the Chinese people". He added that the Year of Greek Culture would further enhance ties between the two countries.