The 7th China-Japan-South Korea Ministerial Conference on Culture was held in Qingdao, Shandong Province on December 20. China's Minister of Culture Luo Shugang, Japan's State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroyuki Yoshiie and South Korea's Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Kim Jong-deok, attended the meeting and signed the Qingdao Action Plan which is to promote cultural exchanges among East Asia. China's Ningbo, Japan's Nara and South Korea's Jeju were awarded the title of 2016 “Culture City of East Asia”.

According to the agreement, China's Ningbo, Japan's Nara and South Korea's Jeju, based on the concept of “East Asia Awareness, Cultural Integration, Mutual Appreciation”, will start various kinds of international exchanges in culture, art, education and other areas from 2016.

After the awarding ceremony, the three cities held a mayor meeting and a cultural officials talkfest on how to carry out exchange activities in culture, art, education, sports and other areas.

Zhang Minghua, Vice Mayor of Ningbo said after receiving the plaque of “Culture City of East Asia” that it is a hard-won honor for Ningbo to get the title of “Culture City of East Asia”, which is the result of Ningbo’s profound cultural foundation and contribution of generations of Ningbo people. Ningbo, with the responsibility to protect the golden name card of “Culture City of East Asia”, will strive to use three to five years’ time to realize the overall goal of cultural elements concentration, good cultural ecology, frequent cultural exchanges and colorful cultural life in Ningbo and build Ningbo into a modern international port city of higher level and more attractiveness.

It is learned that in2016, the beginning year of the “Culture City of East Asia” Activity, Ningbo will launch four activities, namely the Opening Ceremony of Ningbo Year and Ningbo Special Cultural Industry Exhibition, the 24th China-Japan-South Korea Junior Sports Exchange Meet, the China-Japan-South Korea Culture and Art Exchange Season and China-Japan-South Korea Design Art Festival under the mainline of “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter”. In abroad, Ningbo will organize two “Ningbo Culture Weeks” under the themes of “Journey of the Marine Silk Road” and “Journey of Intangible Cultural Heritage”. Meantime, Ningbo will organize symphony orchestras and “the Ten-Mile Red Dowry” show to tour in Japan and South Korea. According to the plan, Ningbo will carry out more than 100 activities in home and abroad.

“Culture City of East Asia”election is the first international cultural city naming activity in Asia and an important brand in the field of culture in China, Japan and South Korea. Since its launch in 2013, it has been carried out two times successfully. The Chinese cities designated as the “Culture City of East Asia” in 2014 and 2015 are Quanzhou in Fujian Province and Qingdao in Shandong Province.