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The China-French Gastronomic Meeting, an event celebrating the Year of the Rabbit and the 59th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, was held on January 23 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The event was co-hosted by the Chinese embassy in France,L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Étoile,a Michelin-starred restaurant,and renowned French porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud.

Gastronomy, meaning the cooking style typical of a country, not only is a representation of a country’s culture, but is also a way to bring cultures together.

Paired with various kinds of fine French wine, six courses of food that fused the two countries’ culinary delights including Dongpo braised pork hock, caviar jelly, and black truffle, were served on delicate Bernardaud china.Videos showcasing the techniques and cultural meanings of the dishes were also screened at the event.

The “China Today” arts week was launched in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia,on January 28 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia.

Co-hosted by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Chinese embassy in Australia, the consulate general of China in Adelaide, and the Adelaide Festival Center, the arts week runs until March 19.

It features an exhibition of ceramic artwork from southeast China’s Jiangxi Province and paintings and prints from the northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

The 50 items from Jingdezhen, a world-famous porcelain town in Jiangxi, were created by three generations of inheritors of an intangible cultural heritage, while the 39 works chosen from traditional Chinese paintings, oil paintings,prints, watercolor, and other forms of art showed the scenery of northeastern China as well as people’s way of life there.

Douglas Gautier, CEO of the Adelaide Festival Center, says that cultural collaborations between China and Australia have helped enhance understanding between the peoples of both countries.

Song Yanqun, ministercounselor for culture at the Chinese embassy in Australia,says that the exhibition had special significance, and hopes that many Australian people will go visit it.

Correo Uruguayo, the national postal service of Uruguay,released a Chinese zodiac stamp on January 19 to mark the Year of the Rabbit and the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

According to Rafael Navarrine, director of the postal service, it’s the 10th year in a row that they have designed and released a Chinese zodiac stamp.

Wang Gang, China’s ambassador to Uruguay,said during the unveiling ceremony that the Chinese embassy in Uruguay is willing to work with Correo Uruguayo to jointly carry out people-to-people exchange projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and raise the strategic partnership between the two countries to a new level.

The stamp design is based on a rare photo of the Ili pika,an endangered species belonging to the rabbit family that is endemic to northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The photo was taken by local wildlife conservation expert Li Weidong in 2014.Li discovered and named the species in the 1980s.

The small, fluffy mammal,around 20 centimeters long,has bright fur, big round ears,and brown mottled fur on its forehead and neck, and lives in the bare rocks with an altitude between 2,800 and 4,100 meters at the Tianshan Mountains.

In 2021, China listed Ili pika as being under second-grade state protection.