Turkiye, Sri Lanka host cultural exchange events with Chinese cities

Also on that day, renowned writers, poets and Sinologists from China and Turkiye held in-depth discussions on literary creation and cross-cultural communication in the AI age, and announced a two-way resident-poet project.

In Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, the event held on July 4 focused on cultural construction amid the development of port cities.

At a themed dialogue with the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo, Mayor of Colombo Vraie Cally Balthazaar told journalists that both port cities are undergoing tremendous transformation and that Colombo looks forward to learning from Ningbo in city planning and the integration of culture and tourism.

At a session devoted to sharing stories of life, culture and connection associated with the two cities, Yasiru Ranaraja, founding director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, recounted the historical visits by ancient Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian and navigator Zheng He to Sri Lanka, highlighting the port city's important role in Sri Lanka-China exchanges since ancient times.

Organizers of the "Encounter and Enlighten" cultural exchange events in Turkiye and Sri Lanka included China's State Council Information Office, Chinese diplomatic missions in the respective countries, and the Chinese city-level governments involved.