Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Thursday to push forward cultural exchanges, which serve as bonds linking the two countries.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the China-Japan Culture and Sports Exchange Year, Wen Jiabao said that economy and culture have been the two bonds linking China and Japan in their friendly exchanges over the past more than 2,000 years.

He described culture as the language of the soul and art as the carrier of the people's feeling, saying that "culture and art can bridge the souls of the peoples."