Changsha, the capital of Central China's Hunan province, has been selected as the "2017 Culture City of East Asia", after a final round of meetings held by the Ministry of Culture in Beijing on July 25.

The other two finalists were Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province and Sanya in Hainan province.

The "East Asia City of Culture" is an annual cultural event, which was first proposed by China, Japan and South Korea in 2013.

Every year, one city from each country will be chosen as the "East Asia City of Culture", which will hold a series of cultural and economic exchanges programs.

Since 2013, Quanzhou in Fujian province, Qingdao in Shandong province and Ningbo in Zhejiang province were chosen as "Culture City of East Asia" by China.

In 2016, Nara-ken of Japan and Jeju of South Korea were given the title.

According to Ding Wei, vice-minister of culture, the candidate cities were judged by an 11-member committee of experts in the fields of cultural exchange, cultural service system construction and intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance.

"Cultural exchanges are important to develop the ties of our countries. Selecting the cities not only boosts their development but also deepens the communication among people of the cities," says Ding.

Yu Dan, an expert on the judging committee, says that Changsha won because of its long history and cultural diversity.

With the title of "Culture City of East Asia", Changsha will launch a variety of cultural activities in 2017 to deepen exchanges with Japan and South Korea as well as the world and to reinvent itself as an international city with unique cultural appeal in East Asia.