In the past 21 years, China had developed a cultural collaboration with ASEAN, covering art performances, cultural industry, festival exhibitions, language education, tourism and sports, which have expanded the range of communication.
The China-ASEAN Cultural Industry Forum was started in 2006, followed by a series of contracts of cultural cooperation, including the Nanning Declaration, the China-ASEAN Cultural Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding, and the China-ASEAN Cultural Industry Interactive Program.
Guangxi, at China's southern border with many Southeast Asian nations, has been doing its best to beef up the cultural ties with ASEAN, and showing its charm in the regional cultural cooperation, thanks to the increasingly close economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN.
Publishing industry
In 2007, Guangxi Normal University Publisher sent a delegation to Hanoi to communicate with related educational institutions on the program of Chinese-Vietnamese bilingual teaching material for Vietnam's middle schools and primary schools.
In 2011, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of establishing China-ASEAN Dialogue Relationship, a delegation of more than 90 people from more than 50 publishers, led by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Press and Publication Bureau, visited Cambodia and Indonesia, and held an exhibition of Chinese books and a copyright business meeting.
It was the fourth time for Guangxi to hold a book exhibition in ASEAN member countries since 2008.
"The activities of book exhibitions showed that Guangxi had played important roles in China-ASEAN cooperation," said Liu Quan, the minister-counselor of the Chinese embassy in Indonesia, at the book exhibition.
Liu Binjie, director of General Administration of Press and Publication, said that Guangxi has set an example of "promoting China's press business close to neighbors", at a national meeting of press and publication.
The General Administration of Press and Publication has entrusted Guangxi to undertake Chinese book sales exhibition and copyright business meeting many times due to its frontier advantage, said Wu Shulin, deputy director of the administration.
The activity is "welcomed and supported by the press industry of China and ASEAN members, and is gradually becoming an important brand for China's cultual cooperation", he said.
Radio and TV
From April to June 2007, a number of Chinese radio and TV operators and authorities jointly organized a cross-border trip from China to some 30 cities of the 10 ASEAN members. The journey lasted for more than 50 days, and covered more than 20,000 kilometers. Dozens of government officials and business leaders were interviewed.
To boost cooperation and communication with the ASEAN media, the radio channel Voice of Beibu Gulf was started in October 2009 as China's first regional international broadcasting frequency.
The channel mainly targets audience in Vietnam, Thailand and some other ASEAN regions, and uses five languages, including English, Thai, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.
The channel has also been active in planning cross-cultural activities. In 2011, Voice of Beibu Gulf and China Radio International jointly organized a China-Vietnam singing contest. The final award ceremony, held in Ha Long Bay, was broadcast live by 27 Vietnamese media outlets, which was the first synchronous live broadcast by both China and Vietnam.
On Oct 9, 2010, an online information platform was launched under the Voice of Beibu Gulf, to explore new attempts to build a China-ASEAN information exchange center in Guangxi.
A TV gala themed by "China-Vietnam Tele-bridge - Convention of Friends" was live broadcast on Dec 14, 2011. Co-organized by Vietnam National TV and Guangxi TV stations, the show invited retired Chinese soldiers who helped Vietnam side in the Vietnam War, and Vietnamese officials who used to study or live in China.
Performances
Guangxi folk art, with strong ethnic features, has played a crucial role in the cultural exchanges between China and ASEAN member countries over the recent years.
In 2008, Guangxi Art Ensemble visited Vietnam and Cambodia, with a government delegation. And in the years that followed, many more troupes went to the ASEAN member countries.
One troupe, visiting Vietnam in September 2010, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, won four awards in the second International Puppet Art Festival there. Their shows were so popular in Vietnam that the theater could barely hold the audiences.
Guangxi Song and Dance Theater had given 98 performances over the last five years, 68 of which were shown in ASEAN countries. Nearly every performer in that theater has performed in ASEAN countries.
The dance and drama show Impression Sanjie Liu, which is based on the Guangxi folktales of Liu Sanjie and uses landscape as background, has created a cultural phenomenon, and is welcomed by viewers at home and abroad.
The production and management team of that show later joined hands with Vietnamese and Cambodian teams to create similar drama shows in renowned tourism attractions in the two countries - Ha Long Bay in Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Many cultural and art exchange organizations have been founded in Guangxi to promote the China-ASEAN exchange, along with forums and exhibitions on cultural heritages.
In 2006, the first China-ASEAN cultural industry forum was held in Nanning. The forum, today known as the China-ASEAN Cultural Forum, covers a wide range of themes such as cultural industry and museum management.
The two sides also reached a number of agreements about cultural-industry cooperation over the past six years.
The cultural exchange programs are "opportunities for China and ASEAN members to better understand the essence of each other's culture", said Ong Keng Yong, former secretary-general of ASEAN.