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State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan Meeting with Seiji Ozawa

On the afternoon of January 6， 2005， State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan met with Seiji Ozawa and his party in Zhongnanhai. CPAFFC Vice President Chen Yongchang was present at the meeting.

Tang expressed his welcome to Ozawa’s visit to China at the beginning of the New Year， and spoke highly of the contributions he had made in the past years to promoting cultural exchanges between Japan and China， the training of Chinese musicians and raising Chinese musical level.

Tang said， Seiji Ozawa is a famous conductor very much respected by the Chinese people. Since China’s reform and opening up， with the improvement of people’s livelihood， more young people began to learn music， and a number of excellent musical talents have emerged and won prizes in various international musical competitions. Mr. Ozawa who shuttles between Japan and China has made great contribution to raising China’s performance level of operas and symphonies and developing exchanges between the two countries in the cultural and musical fields. We appreciate the fruitful cooperation between Mr. Ozawa and Chinese musicians and musical groups. Considering the current China-Japan relationship， we feel all the more need to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the cultural field to further enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples and promote healthy development of bilateral political relations. Tang hoped that Mr. Ozawa would visit China often and have exchanges with his Chinese counterparts. Tang said， we support and warmly welcome the planned performance tour made by the students of the Seiji Ozawa Musical School in October 2005.

Seiji Ozawa thanked State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan for meeting with them in the midst of pressing affairs. He said， as a man born in Shenyang， he has cherished special friendly sentiments toward China. He is very happy to see China’s achievements and new musical talents， especially musical instruments players， coming forth in large numbers in recent years. He mentioned， he is already 70. In his remaining years he wishes to pass on to the younger generation his years’ experiences in conducting orchestras in Europe and the United States， to train excellent Eastern musicians and introduce them to the Western audience. Hence， he wants to gather Chinese， Japanese and ROK musical talents to jointly perform Western operas so that the Westerners will know that the Easterners are also able to perform well Western operas and symphonies. To carry his wish into effect， he is going to lead the Japanese students of the Seiji Ozawa Musical School to China in October this year to jointly perform the opera I1 Barbiere di Siviglia in Beijing and Shanghai together with selected young Chinese musicians.

Tang Jiaxuan said， this is a good meaningful thing. He is sure that Ozawa’s wish will soon be fulfilled. Tang wished the performance in October a full success.

CPAFFC President Chen Haosu Meeting with and Entertaining Seiji Ozawa

CPAFFC President Chen Haosu met with and entertained Seiji Ozawa and his party. Chen said， in the early days of China’s reform and opening， Ozawa came to China and cooperated successfully with his Chinese counterparts. Music， a best way to conduct exchanges， can link the hearts of people of different languages. Chen hoped that Ozawa would make greater efforts to train Chinese musically talented people and raise China’s musical level. Chen expressed his welcome to Ozawa’s students’ performance this autumn and said that the CPAFFC would give its full cooperation to it.

Seiji Ozawa said， about 30 years has passed since his first visit to China. Over the years he has forged deep friendship with the late CPAFFC President Wang Bingnan and the late CJFA President Sun Pinghua.Since the reform and opening up， China has made great achievements in economic development. Cultural exchanges between Japan and China have achieved remarkable results. He said， he will make contribution to the cultural exchanges between the two countries and the training of Chinese musicians of the next generation.

At the invitation of the CPAFFC， Ozawa and his 3-member party paid a visit to Beijing from January 5 to 7， 2005. During his stay there， he called on Cultural Minister Sun Jiazheng， and exchanged views with him about the future Japan-China cultural exchanges and the performance in October by the Seiji Ozawa Musical School.