By APD writer Aditya Nugraha

JAKARTA, June 18 (APD)– The ASEAN Secretariat witnessed on Monday the launch of Chinese Folk Culture ASEAN Tour, highly expected to boost further people-to-people contacts between China and ASEAN countries through cultural understanding.

The launch was conducted by Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Huang Xilian with ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi and senior ASEAN officials at presence.

In his remarks, Huang said that the upcoming visits of Chinese Folk Culture delegation in each of 10 ASEAN member countries would promote understanding and appreciation of Chinese cultural assets and exploring new cultural exchange platforms.

Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Huang Xilian.

China and ASEAN countries have centuries of close interactions, are belonged to eastern Asian civilizations whose adaptations had led to diverse yet similar folk culture and traditions.

“These interactions were uninterrupted for centuries, intensively connected our people thus injected strong impetus to a shared future,” the Chinese ambassador to ASEAN said.

In the launch event, China sent a delegation of 30 experts and professors on Chinese Folk as well as folk artists with profound expertise in many Chinese cultural traditions.

Huang added that through the Chinese folk culture exposure, people in ASEAN countries can learn Chinese civilization which respects diverse of the other ones in the world, seeking nourishment from other civilizations.

The launch of the Chinese Folk Culture ASEAN Tour event was featured with the introduction of the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship logo whose program is scheduled to start later this year.

In his turn, Dato Lim Jock Hoi said the Chinese Folk Culture ASEAN Tour as it enriches the diversity of ASEAN-China cultural expressions, is timely for being promoted.

“This initiative will serve as an important enabler of tolerance, mutual understanding, and cultural appreciation,” he said in his remarks, referring to the program scheduled to commence next year.

He expected that the program would greatly contribute to the development of Small and Medium Cultural Enterprises (SMCEs) and tourism sector that would eventually benefit ASEAN countries.

Dato Lim Jock Hoi also conveyed his gratitude for China’s generous support in the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship program, which he said of greatly help ASEAN countries in developing their human resources in the future.

(Top image: ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi.)

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)