Expats walk to the launch ceremony of the "Focus on Zhejiang" international cultural exchange. [Photo/thehour.cn]

The Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism launched an annual international cultural exchange event entitled "Focus on Zhejiang" at the Wenzhou Overseas Communication Center in the city of Wenzhou on May 22.

Among the attendees of the launch ceremony were Xu Peng, vice-director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Chen Jiangfeng, vice-director of the Zhejiang Foreign Affairs Office, Hu Jianjin, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee, and many foreigners living in Zhejiang.

The "Focus on Zhejiang" international cultural exchange will provide plenty of opportunities for expats to explore the province's culture by touring its modern cities and ancient villages. Related academic discussions, cultural events, and tours will be held in a number of Zhejiang cities throughout the year.

At the launch ceremony, a Serbian soprano and a North Macedonian dancer from the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music performed a musical rendition of a poem by the Southern Song Dynasty literatus Jiang Kui (1154-1221).

Adonis (pen name), a famous Syrian poet and perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, gave a short speech at the event through a recorded video in which he wished the cultural exchange in Zhejiang a complete success.

Having been to Zhejiang multiple times, Adonis said in the video he would imagine himself meeting esteemed Zhejiang-born writer Lu Xun (1881-1936) every time he set foot there.

"Humans rarely disagree on what beauty is," Adonis said. "Thank imaginative people for building a bridge of communication between civilizations."

A Serbian soprano and a North Macedonian dancer from the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music perform a musical rendition of a Southern Song Dynasty poem at the launch ceremony. [Photo/thehour.cn]