A weeklong Week of Chinese Culture was inaugurated on October 28th in Egypt, a country with old civilization on the Nile, enabling the Egyptian people to see the brilliant Chinese culture with their own eyes.

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt, a 120-person government delegation composed of artists from the Central National Traditional Musical Instruments Orchestra, the Acrobatics Troupe of China and the Peking Opera Theater of China, led by Chinese Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng, arrived in Egypt a few days ago. They are to present to the Egyptian people a rich feast of Chinese culture.

Sun Jiazheng said to the journalists on 28th after his interview with Egyptian Premier that China and Egypt are both countries with ancient civilizations in the world. The activities of the Week of Chinese Culture launched this time is different from those administered in the past in that the same problem confronting the two countries has been taken into consideration he said. That is, how to keep pace with the times and move towards modernization, and how to preserve their own characteristics and maintain independence in culture and ideology in the trend of economic globalization.

In the course of the Week of Chinese Culture, the Cultural Center of China in Egypt will be officially completed, continued Sun Jiazheng. This is the first Cultural Center of China established in the Arabic world and African continent. Both the first Cultural Center and the first Cultural Week are well sited in Egypt. That is because Egypt is a country with an ancient civilization and one of the countries that established diplomatic relations with China earliest in time. Cultural exchanges between the two countries can greatly promote our cultural association with African and other countries in the world.

It is known from Egyptian cultural officials that five performances will be given in Cairo and the Mediterranean tourism city Alexandria in the course of the cultural week. In addition, a Show of Chinese Plastic Arts, an exhibition called Chinese characters -- from Ancient Script on Bones or Tortoise Shells to Computers and bilateral cultural symposia will be administered.