The evening party for the opening ceremony of culture week came with this special folk performance, whose theme was "Spirit of Changbai Mountains". Zheng Chunsheng / for China Daily

There is a celebration of a special kind this week in Moscow, with a culture week that highlights Sino-Russian friendship and points the way to future cooperation and communication, officials have said.

The 2011 "Experience China" Trip to Russia - Jilin Cultural Week, which runs from September 19 to 25, acknowledges the cultural interaction and bilateral ties that have improved relations in recent years.

Wang Chen, head of China's State Council Information Office, explained, "This year is the 10th anniversary of the 'Sino-Russia Treaty of Friendship' and this culture week is a significant way to show the spirit of the treaty and to improve the bilateral friendship."

Two previous examples of this sort of celebration were 2006's "Russia Year" activities in China, followed by 2007's "China Year" activities in Russia.

The organizer of the "Experience China" activity is the State Council Information Office, whose goal is to show Chinese culture to the outside world. It tries to find the best examples of Chinese culture for its programs to show both cultural relics and modern art and society.

This year the activity focuses on Jilin province in the Northeast, which borders on Russia to the east, and North Korea to the south.

Jilin also has a long history of communicating with other nations and, over the past two years, has held a Northeast Asia Culture and Arts Week, the Changchun Film Festival, Changchun International Sculpture Exhibition, and Northeast Asia Auto Model Competition.

Today, the province is concentrating on China's strategic plan to develop the Northeast through increased industrialization, urbanization, and modernization of agriculture.

Thanks to its economic, cultural, and social development, Jilin is becoming a star in the Northeast.

"This cultural week lets us give the Russian people a taste of Jilin's culture and attract more people to the province for sightseeing and investment," explained Xun Fengqi, head of the Jilin Publicity Department.

Xun said they will have painting and photography exhibits and folk culture shows, as well as trade and tourism promotions to get more visitors and business people.

Flight CZ6146, from Beijing, arrives at Changchun's Longjia Airport, in Jilin province, on Sept 5. This was the first time that a long-range, and wide-body Airbus A330-200, owned by the Jilin branch of China Southern Airlines, has landed at Changchun's airport. The airport now has four places at its terminal that handle this E-Class aircraft, after its recent expansion, to help serve the great number of people at the Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo, from Sept 6 to 11. China Southern Airlines says that it will increase the number of its aircraft serving Jilin, with the total number expected to reach 15 in the near future.

(China Daily 09/23/2011 page14)