Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ａｎｄ Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ Ｐａｉｎｔｉｎｇ ａｎｄ Ｃａｌｌｉｇｒａｐｈｙ Ｅｘｈｉｂｉｔｉｏｎ

On November 6， 2004， a Chinese and Japanese painting and calligraphy exhibition cosponsored by the CPAFFC and the Association for the Promotion of Chinese Culture and Art (APCCA) was held in the Exhibition Hall of the Sports Centre in Wuxi， a rich region of fish and rice in southern Jiangsu and famous historical and cultural city that has nurtured large numbers of great masters of art.

With the purpose of further strengthening friendship and exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese people and promoting the common development of their painting and calligraphy， one hundred contemporary Chinese and Japanese calligraphers and painters were invited to display 200 pieces of their newly created works at this exhibition with the theme of “exchange， combination and creativeness”. It was a grand event in the history of exchanges in painting and calligraphy between the two countries.

Chen Haosu， CPAFFC president， Shao Huaze， president of the All-China Journalists Association， Chang Keren， vice cultural minister， Hu Zhen， vice president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles， Pan Zhengzhou， curator of the National Museum of China， Wang Jun， deputy director general of the National Tourism Administration， Hou Enyu， president of the APCCA， Ms. Megumi Inoue， representative of Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami， Wang Taiping， chief Chinese representative of the Japan-China Friendship Centre as well as leading officials of Wuxi attended the opening ceremony and cut the ribbon.

At the ceremony， CPAFFC President Chen Haosu said， China and Japan are close neighbours separated by only a strip of water， and the people of the two countries have similar customs and cultures that can be traced to the same origin. As to the contemporary arts， whether in China or Japan， no other forms of art can be compared with painting and calligraphy in popularity. This exhibition represents the highest level of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy and wash painting. These fine calligraphy and paintings that express the artists’ true feelings display the splendid and flourishing Eastern culture and embodies the spirit of exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese painting and calligraphy and their creativeness. It will surely be a glorious page in the history of China’s external cultural exchanges. Koreshige Anami， Japanese Ambassador to China， specially sent a message of congratulations on the holding of the exhibition， hoping that it would promote cultural exchanges and deepen mutual understanding between the two countries.

After the opening ceremony， in the exhibition hall one hundred Chinese and Japanese calligraphers and painters wrote and painted on a 120-metre xuan paper scroll laid out like two “white dragons”. The artists’ demonstration won acclamation. Excited by this kind of zero-distance art exchanges， artists of the two countries expressed their aspirations of Sino-Japanese friendship through their brushes and ink.

The event reputed as “forging friendship through brush and ink” by Cheng Yunxian， vice president of the Chinese Artists’ Association， has demonstrated the achievements of contemporary Chinese and Japanese painting and calligraphy， and has great significance in carrying forward the splendid Eastern culture and inspiring cultural resonance and deep thinking in the two countries so that the good-neighbourly relations will further develop.