San Francisco's Israel China Cultural Festival, which continues throughout June, marks 20 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations and is meant to promote cross-cultural understanding at the personal level.

The monthlong festival is a bilateral showcase of culture and traditions as well as istorical exchanges, through modern times, between two ancient societies and their enduring friendship, according to Mervyn Danker, regional director of the American Jewish Committee.

A solemn part of the festival was an exhibit chronicling Chinese diplomat Ho Feng- Shan's rescue of thousands of Austrian Jews from the Nazis during World War II. The June 7 opening of the exhibit drew a mixed audience of 200 Jewish and Chinese members of the local community, along with diplomats from China and Israel. The Chinese consul general in San Francisco, Gao Zhansheng, and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren also attended the opening, at the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Wings of the Phoenix depicts how Ho, as consul general in 1938 at the Chinese embassy in Vienna, issued Chinese visas to Jews at the risk of his life and career. Ho's daughter, Manli Ho, presented a slide show of archives and photos illustrating the brave humanitarianism of her late father.

Quoting Confucius, Gao said of Ho: "A superior man in dealing with the world is not for anything or against anything; he follows righteousness as the standard." The modern diplomat called Ho "precisely a man who always followed righteousness and conscience", adding that his forebear's heroism demonstrates selfless humanitarianism and the compassionate nature of the Chinese people.

Since formally linking diplomatically in 1992, the modern states of China and Israel - boThestablished in the late 1940s - have strengthened their friendship. Oren pointed out that the countries' collaboration and cooperation has come in a wide range of fields - technology, defense and security, agriculture and academic exchanges. In 2011, their bilateral trade volume totaled about $8 billion.

Oren said his son speaks fluent Mandarin and is living in Shanghai, where he works for an Israeli textile company's local office. Israelis are very comfortable traveling to and living in China, the ambassador said. The Chinese government and people have helped preserve many Jewish historic relics throughout China, he added.

The remaining weeks of the San Francisco festival, which ends on July 2, will feature screenings of Chinese and Israeli films, exhibits of books and photography, tai chi demonstrations and a lecture series.

junchang@chinadailyusa.com