Chen Xu, China's Ambassador to the Netherlands, gave a speech at the forum.[Photo/China Culture Daily]

China and the Netherlands have vowed to strengthen cooperation in cultural innovation at the recently-concluded China-Netherlands Culture and Media Forum.

In Noordwijk, a coastal city in the Netherlands, government officials and representatives from culture industries of both countries gathered to exchange experiences and discuss development as well as innovation.

Dutch artist Florentijin Hofman, well-known for his work “Rubber Duck”, explained the reasons for its great success.

"It is very cute, yellow, and has nice eyes. It makes you smile. I think that the great success of the project is its art, its theme of happiness and connection to all the people in the world, even if you have war, even if you have lost someone whether you are a child or an old person. Everybody connects with it and it makes them happy."

Meanwhile, Huang Weiming, creator of “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf”, a popular cartoon series in China, also brought his works to the forum. Huang expressed his wish to bring the cartoon series overseas.

“ ‘Pleasant Goat’ is widely-known in China. We plan to develop an eductional series, hoping more people can fall in love with this fun way to learn. Moreover, we hope our products can go overseas and we hope to cooperate with more good brands.”

Chen Xu, China's Ambassador to the Netherlands, pointed out that there was great potential for the two countries to cooperate in cultural innovation.

“ ‘Voice of China’ is the Chinese version of ‘Voice of Holland’. Dutch designs such as ‘Rubber Duck’ and ‘Miffy’ are popular in China. Meanwhile, the Chinese tradition of Spring Festival is celebrated in the Netherlands. I believe that the two countries will see more exchanges in culture and economy, and there will be more stories of successful cooperation between the two countries.”