The on-going China-UK Women's Cultural Festival highlights
understanding through exchanges among people from sports, business,
cultural and political circles in the two countries.
The festival, sponsored by All-China Women's Federation (ACWF),
the Office of the Mayor of London and China Now, a national
celebration of Chinese culture in Britain in the run up to the
Beijing Olympics in August, unveiled itself on Sunday, when young
performers from the China Children's Center joined the Chinese New
Year celebration in central London with dances, traditional Chinese
music and Gong Fu.
The Forum on Women and the Olympics and Paralympics focused on
how women in Beijing get prepared with the coming games through
various campaigns.
No one could have been more persuasive about women's
participation in the games than Olympic champion Deng Yaping, who
is also member of International Olympic Committee, offered a vivid
picture of Chinese women and Olympics.
When New China was founded in 1949, she told the forum, the
Chinese government advocated gender equality by encouraging women
to participate in all activities including sports. Some 60 years
on, China is witnessing an unprecedented growth of women's
sports.
During the past six Summer Olympic Games, said Deng, who is also
deputy director of Olympic Village Department of the Beijing
Organizing Committee for the 29th Games, Chinese athletes have won
112 gold medals, of which 65 were obtained by women athletes.
While women in sports are represented, a photography exhibition
Women in China was also launched in London, showcasing women's life
in modern China.
From fashion, culture and entertainment to the Olympics, the
exhibition of some 70 photos presents to the British public the
changing lives of Chinese women in the 21st century.
"This is the first time China holds an exhibition about women in
Britain," said Gu Xiulian, vice chairperson of the Standing
Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC) and president
of ACWF, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.
"The photos show how Chinese women participate in the country's
social and economic life, promoting harmony and progress. They also
demonstrate women's aspirations for freedom, equality and
happiness," she said.
A popular variety performance dubbed The Same Song-let's sing
together brought the festival to a climax with a rich and modern
version of cultural life in China.
Chinese women entrepreneurs also came to the spotlight at the
festival. During a special session with Ma Chunying, deputy general
manager of Beijing Yili Food Company, and Wu Xiuping, vice
president and secretary general of Beijing Women Entrepreneurs'
Association, elaborated on business in China and answered questions
on women's healthcare, start-up operations, and other aspects of
women in business.
What's more, during the week-long festival, Gu Xiulian met
Helene Hayman, the first ever woman speaker of the House of Lords,
and Alan Haselhurst, deputy speaker of the House of Commons, and
briefed them on China's political system and the institutional
structure of China's NPC.
She also met with London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell,
British Olympics minister about China's national policy of equality
between man and woman as well as women's development in the
populous country.
Chinese Ambassador to Britain Fu Ying has hailed the festival as
a catalyst for bilateral exchanges, presenting Chinese women as
independent and confident.
The year 2008 is not only the year of Beijing Olympics but also
marks the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. As
Zhao Shaohua, vice-president of ACWF, noted, the festival is a
platform for bilateral exchanges through culture, sports, business
and politics, getting people from the outside feel for themselves
what opening up and an inclusive culture brings to China.
(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2008)