A special exhibition on East Asian kite culture was recently kicked off at Weifang World Kite Museum in Weifang, east China’s Shandong province, to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Culture City of East Asia, a program jointly initiated by China, Japan and South Korea in 2013 to promote cultural exchanges and cooperation in the East Asian region by naming one or two cities from each country as the Culture Cities of East Asia every year.

The exhibition, which focuses on the theme of cultural exchanges in East Asia, aims to enhance cultural exchanges among cities named as the Culture Cities of East Asia and comprehensively showcase the cultural characteristics of these cities.

With the kite collections of Weifang World Kite Museum, the event offered visitors an opportunity to gain a good understanding of the historical origin and evolution of China’s kite culture and to admire fine and featured kites from home and abroad.

A special exhibition zone has been set up at the exhibition for the Culture Cities of East Asia. Exhibits at the zone have shown visitors the characteristics of the kite culture and fine kites in Japan and South Korea, and brought visitors closer to the charms of the 13 Chinese cities which have been designated as the Culture Cities of East Asia as well as Weifang’s efforts to win the honorary title.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition was held on the morning of July 2. It was attended by officials including Di Bo, vice mayor of Weifang, Cao Lizhong, deputy secretary-general of the People’s Government of Weifang City, Tian Yiming, deputy head of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Weifang Municipal Committee, and Quan Wensong, head of the Weifang municipal bureau of culture and tourism.

The exhibition was co-hosted by the publicity department of the CPC Weifang Municipal Committee and the Weifang municipal bureau of culture and tourism under the guidance of Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and jointly organized by Weifang World Kite Museum and museums in the 13 Chinese cities designated as Culture Cities of East Asia, including Quanzhou, Qingdao, Ningbo, Changsha, Harbin, Xi’an, Yangzhou, Shaoxing, Dunhuang, Jinan, Wenzhou, Chengdu, and Meizhou. The municipal bureau of culture and tourism of the 13 cities have provided support and assistance for the organizers to help hold the event.