Society

International Cultural Festival held in Wuhan Univ.

By Zhou Lihua and Jiang Hongyuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-12-14 13:25

The 5th Luojia Autumn International Culture Festival at Wuhan University was held on December 12th, featuring activities including African dancing, lessons in trendy Hong Kong slang, and food tasting events from five continents.

International students from more than 70 countries gathered at the university to participate, along with representatives from the embassies of ten countries and leaders from the Hubei provincial government and local universities.

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Evgeny Tomikhin, Russian minister-counselor to China, said improving cultural understanding can help lead to mutual trust and can lay the foundation for healthy bilateral relations. In recent years, a series of cultural events, including the "Year of Russia" in China, has helped improve cultural understanding between the two countries.

The Cultural Festival focused on promoting "Diversity and Harmony, Interaction and Integration" and attracted more than 2,100 international students coming from 109 countries and regions.

Sheng Jianxue, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange at the Ministry of Education, said China is gradually becoming one of the most important destinations for international students. Currently, there are about 230,000 foreign students studying in China. In 2010, the Chinese government plans to expand the number of Chinese government scholarships to 20,000, an increase of 2,000 places from this year.

The festival also included some celebrations of local Hubei culture, such as a Chinese song composition contest among international students, with the theme "Hubei in my eyes". Hubei also organized an exhibit stand and showed off its cultural handicrafts, and presented a live show of paper-cutting and shadow puppets.

The festival, which was first held in 2005, was supported by Chinese Ministry of Education and Hubei Province.