The China-Japan Friendship Spring Tea Party, co-hosted by the CPAFFC, the China-Japan Friendship Association and Urasenke (one of the three historical schools of the Japanese tea ceremony), was held in Beijing on April 17, 2018. Tang Jiaxuan, President of the China-Japan Friendship Association, attended the tea party. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the CPAFFC, Daisosho SEN Genshitsu, the 15th Urasenke iemoto (head), and Shikata Noriyuki, Minister and DCM of the Embassy of Japan in China, addressed the tea party. Liu Deyou, former Vice Minister of Culture, gave a keynote speech titled “Tea: The Bond of the Chinese-Japanese Culture”.
Vice President Song Jingwu said that China and Japan are geographically close and share similar cultures. In more than 2,000 years of friendly exchanges, the tea culture has become a popular common asset shared by the two peoples and an important carrier of cultural exchanges between China and Japan. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The China-Japan relations have shown an excellent momentum and are facing an important opportunity for further improvement and development. In such a memorable year, it is wonderful and meaningful for friends from all walks of life to enjoy tea, talk about friendship and pray for peace together. Both China and Japan are important countries in Asia and the world, shouldering the responsibility of maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and the world. We should continuously strengthen the cultural ties, expand friendly exchanges and promote the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations, contributing to the establishment of a community with a shared future for mankind and playing the role as peacekeepers and promoters of peace.
During the opening ceremony, Daisosho SEN Genshitsu of Urasenke dedicated the tea in prayer for Japan-China friendship and world peace. He said that tea is a symbol of peace and an envoy of culture, and expressed his willingness to continue to be committed to the ideal of “spreading peace through a bowl of tea”, further the people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Japan and China and work together with friends from all walks of life to contribute to the development of friendly relations between Japanese and Chinese people.
More than 100 people from all walks of life from China and Japan, including friendly personnel and media representatives, participated in the event.
photographed by Huang Xiaowei
