The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST) and the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (President JUNG Kilhwa, KOFICE) will be hosting a diverse and bountiful range of cultural exchange events to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and China and “2021-2022 Year of Korea-China Cultural Exchanges”. Starting with the hybrid online and offline concert on August 24^th (Wed), the Ministry plans to hold various cultural exchange events, including creative theater plays by both Korean and Chinese youth artists, introducing monthly cultural contents (Korea-China Monthly), exhibit online art works, and other cultural events.

In celebration of three decades of diplomatic ties and to further promote bilateral cultural exchanges, Korea and China declared 2021-2022 as “The Year of Korea-China Cultural Exchanges” last year. As such, the two nations have continued to carry out a wide range of cultural exchanges since last year under the official slogan “Friendship shared through culture, and companionship towards the future (In Chinese: 文化增友谊，同行创未来)”. Sharing a long historical journey, the two countries will reconfirm their friendship built over the past 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties through abundant and wide-ranging cultural exchange events, and will work towards developing a future-oriented relationship based on mutual respect and cooperation.

To begin with, the Korean National Symphony Orchestra will perform together with the acclaimed cellist Jian Wang and violinist Ning Feng of China at the Lotte Concert Hall on Aug 24^th (Wed) 8PM, to illuminate a night of mutual friendship with a beautiful classical performance for about 120 minutes. The program will present a wide range of enjoyable classical music pieces, including Violin Concerto Op. 14 by Barber and Variation on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 by Tchaikovsky. All free invitational tickets offered during the two rounds of applications via the Lotte Concert Hall website were sold out, drawing much public attention.

In addition, MCST and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China will host online performance on Aug 24 (wed) at 8:30PM. The Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra will perform Molihua (Jasmine Flower) and China National Symphony Orchestra will perform Arirang to show and strengthen their mutual friendship. This will be released via the official Korea-China Cultural Exchange Year YouTube channel(http://www.youtube.com/c/korchnyera), Naver TV of Korea, and CNTV (the official online channel for CCTV), and the online channel of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China.

Also, there will be performances from young performers in Korea and China. A creative play by the young performing artists of Korea’s Hanyang University and six regional universities of China will be staged at the Daloreum Theater of the National Theater of Korea on Oct 29^th (Sat) 3PM and 7PM. The joint performances, rooted in the cultures of both nations, will feature improved accessibility with barrier-free audience seating that offers sign language interpretation and subtitles for all shows.

Moreover, the Korea-China Monthly will be introducing attractive cultural content from both nations, with celebrities and experts in fields of arts, animation, and motion pictures from August to December. This month,  Gyeongju (East Asia Culture City 2022) and Chinese fermented traditional drink will be used as themes for Korea-China Monthly and it will be shown via online. The Korea-China Monthly is designed to be shown not only via online but also linked to on-site events. The 4-episode special series showing the lifestyle of the MZ (People who are born between the year 1981 and 2010) generations in both countries will be aired in September and October via Korea’s Arirang TV and China’s Anhui TV.

In art, there are exhibitions which spotlight on the trend of the art works for the last 30 years since the establishment of the diplomatic times. The online Open Up! Exhibition will be held from Aug 24^th until Oct 23^rd (www.kode.or.kr), featuring participation from 30 visual artists of the two nations, encouraging people in both countries to open up their hearts and deepen mutual trust.

There will be also cultural events in China. A youth traditional music orchestra from Korea will visit China on the invitation of the Korean Cultural Center in China, where they will present Korea’s traditional music and dance performances, including sinawi[1], pansori[2], and dance. The traditional music performance group will go on tour across China to destinations including Tianjin, Xian, and Chengdu after putting on its first performance during the 30^th anniversary of diplomatic ties in Beijing on Aug 24^th. The troupe is expected to introduce Korea’s traditional culture on local stages at major events.

MCST has continued to identify and support outstanding cultural exchange programs between Korea and China from last year. The Ministry plans to unveil various programs in the second half of 2022, including the Korea-China Arts Exchange Exhibition by Korean and Chinese artists (Sept), the Special Chinese Animation Exhibition during the Bucheon International Animation Festival (Oct), Korea-China Gala Concert featuring collaboration between a Korean orchestra and Chinese traditional instrument musicians (Oct), the Korea-China Ceramics Art Exchange (Dec) with ceramic artists from both countries.

MCST Director-General stated, “The exchange of cultural content is the most attractive approach in narrowing the distance between the people of the two nations, and especially for the younger generations.” He added that “The two nations would further develop a mature and future-oriented relationship based on mutual respect through continued cultural exchanges and cooperation building on the performances marking 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties.”