When a culture delegation from Xiamen city journeyed to Indonesia for the 2016 Surabaya Cross Culture Festival, in the city of Surabaya, Xiamen's sister city, Aug 13 - 19, they provided a dazzling array of performances for the opening ceremony, on Aug 15, and for a street pageant and in public areas, such as parks and shopping malls.
Xiamen performers taking a photo during the pageant. [Photo from xmfo.gov.cn]
Leading the delegation, with 15 officials, folk opera performers and folk dancers, was Chen Ying, vice-president of the Xiamen Federation of Literary Art Circles, who exchanged presents with Surabaya's mayor, Tri Rismaharini, at the opening ceremony.
Xiamen opera performers at a public venue. [Photo from xmwenlian.com]
The delegates also visited China's deputy consul-general in Surabaya, Jiang Lei, and met with the head of the city's culture department, Wiwiek Widayati, and took part in Indonesia's National Day (Aug 17) celebrations. In addition, they went to kindergartens and primary schools where graduates of Huaqiao University in Fujian have been teaching Chinese language and culture, to get a picture of the interest in Chinese education in local areas.
China has decided to extend its visa waiver policy to ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom starting from Feb 17.
Forty-one new port-of-entry duty-free shops have been established nationwide, with Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, Xiamen Wutong Passenger Wharf, and Xiamen International Cruise Center included on the list.
