Poster for the Chinese comic strip show at the 7th Brussels Comic Strip Festival. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

The opening ceremony of Chinese comic strip show at the 7th Brussels Comic Strip Festival was held on September 2 in Brussels, Belgium. Around 100 guests and representatives attended the ceremony.

It is the first time the Chinese section has been set at the festival, which launched on the same day.

The exhibition featured masterpieces from eleven Chinese cartoonists, covering the classic Sanmao Joins the Army accomplished 70 years ago, and the manuscripts from ten contemporary caricaturists.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium. The event aims to present Chinese classic comic strip and outstanding comic artists to the Europeans.

Zhang Weijun, son of Zhang Leping who created Sanmao series, addressed at the ceremony. He introduced the story of his father's creation on Sanmao and the comic strip's 1984 animation adaptation.

A series of activities were staged on during the day, such as a children's game workshop, young Chinese cartoonists' book-signing ceremony, an exhibition of Chinese animation works and a comic creative products fair.

The three-day Comic Strip Festival was attended by some 100,000 visitors from more than ten countries.

With the support of Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Embassy to Belgium, the Chinese section at the festival was organized by the China Cultural Center in Brussels and the Center of International Cultural Exchange of China.