At 19 o'clock on November 29th, the first large-scale overseas Cultural Center of China was completed and opened to public. Chinese Minister of Culture Sun Jinzheng and Egyptian Vice-Premier Wali inaugurated the Center together. In the five years to come, China plans to set up a dozen or so Cultural Centers in different places of the world.

What wonderful Chinese characters, acclaimed some visitors when they watched the show entitled Chinese Characters -- from Ancient Script on Bones or Tortoise Shells to Computer. The show displays the origin, structure, writing and development of Chinese characters, the invention of papermaking and printing, and the technique of high-speed feeding of Chinese characters to computer. In this way it gives expression to the continuity of China's old civilization represented by Chinese characters.

It is because of the Chinese language craze just raised in Egypt that Cairo was chosen as the location of the first overseas Cultural Center of China. Relevant reports indicate that in recent years, the rapid growth of China's economy has attracted the attention of the Egyptians who have the same long history and old civilization as China. Currently Chinese tourists to Egypt are increasing day by day, in particular in the recent two years. During the National Day holidays this year the number of people going on a tour to Egypt topped 6,000. To cater to the need of the tourist industry in Egypt, learning Chinese language has become a must.

The center is situated in the west of Cairo, only three kilometers in distance from the pyramid, one of the world's wonders. With a total investment of four million US dollars, it is a five-story building having a usable floor area of 3,200 square meters and a land area of 1,000 square meters. As the site of construction is within the drainage area of the Nile where there is plenty of underground water, the rare-seen construction method of pouring concrete on foundation is adopted to cut off underground water,

In addition to regular exhibitions, the Center also administers rich and colorful cultural activities such as giving Chinese language teaching, conducting academic seminars, etc. The news library, reading room and film and videotape projection hall serve as a window for non-governmental cultural exchanges.

The soft force such as culture and media as compared to the hard force of economy and army, has occupied a more and more significant position in comprehensive national strength. Director of International Liaison Ding Wei told journalists that as China is developing fast, we should move more actively towards the world and help people understand China more objectively and directly.

In the afternoon, in his speech entitled Going Forward Hand in Hand to Score Brilliant Achievements, Sun Jiazheng gave an account of China's current situation to people in cultural circles in Cairo.

At present, the Cultural Center of China to be set up in Malta, Paris and Seoul are just in preparation. These three centers will be open to the public one after another within the next two years as is estimated. In the five years to come, the Cultural Center of China will be set up in the Great Britain, Germany and Russia.