On the evening of December 16th, the symphony concert of "Mountains and Rivers, Walking Hand in Hand" was held at the Qingdao Grand Theatre. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, hosted by the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and co-organized by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Qingdao Municipal People's Government.
At the concert site, the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra performed the classic chinese and Korean repertoire "Birds and Phoenix", "Jasmine", "Arirang" and other works, Qingdao violin master Lu Siqing played his representative work "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", the famous conductor Lin Daye, tenor singer You Long, soprano singer Zhang Lili, and Li Kang, a soprano singer, also brought wonderful musical works to the audience.
Before the symphony concert, Zhang Xu, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, Ling Wen, Vice Governor of Shandong Province, delivered speeches, South Korean Ambassador to China Zhang Xiacheng sent video messages, Qingdao Vice Mayor Zhu Peiji, and Consul General Of the Republic of Korea in Qingdao Kim Kyung-han delivered speeches respectively.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the ROK, the two governments have officially established 2021-2022 as the "Year of Cultural Exchange between China and the ROK", during which the two countries held various activities aimed at promoting cooperation and exchanges between the two sides in the fields of culture, art, sports and tourism. As an important part of the China-Korea Cultural Exchange Year, the event attracted the participation of many Koreans in Qingdao. The two-month Exhibition of Art in Qingdao, South Korea, Washi, was also held at the Qingdao Sculpture Museum on December 15, inviting outstanding artists from six institutions, including the General Federation of Culture and Art of Cheongju and the Qingdao Federation of Culture and Art, to exhibit 100 works of Chinese painting, watercolor, oil painting and photography. Artists showed the international vision and high level of artistic expression ability of artists in Qingdao, China and Cheongju, South Korea from the aspects of scenery, humanities, tourism, culture, folklore, and portraits.
It is understood that Qingdao and South Korea are across the sea and have been "close neighbors" with frequent economic, trade and cultural exchanges since ancient times. Over the years, the two sides have had frequent exchanges in various fields, and in terms of economy and trade, South Korea is Qingdao's largest source of overseas tourists, the second largest source of foreign investment, and the third largest trading partner. In terms of people-to-people exchanges, Qingdao has formed friendship cities with Daegu Metropolitan City, friendship and cooperation with six cities including Incheon Metropolitan City and Pyeongtaek City, "World Film Capital" with Busan City, South Korea, and "East Asian Cultural Capital" in the same year as Cheongju, South Korea. Over the years, Qingdao has also continued to carry out exchange activities between Young Cultural Envoys of China, Japan and South Korea, seminars on poetry creation between China, Japan and South Korea, organized art troupes to participate in the "Chopsticks Forum" and "Chopsticks Cultural Festival" in Cheongju, and carried out research and study exchanges between young people in the "East Asian Cultural Capital" and exchanges and exchanges of art groups. The commemoration of the "Year of Sino-Korean Cultural Exchanges" held in Qingdao will further expand the cooperation between Qingdao and the ROK in the fields of economy, trade, humanities and tourism, enhance mutual understanding between the people of Qingdao and the ROK, build a new bridge for friendly exchanges between China and the ROK, and provide an important opportunity for China-ROK relations to further leap forward.
(Courtesy of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism)
Editor-in-charge: Wu Min