Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ， Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ， Ｋｏｒｅａｎ Ｗｏｍｅｎ ｉｓ Ｃｏｎｆｅｒｅｎｃｅ Ｈｅｌｄ ｉｎ Ｊｉｎａｎ， Ｓｈａｎｄｏｎｇ Ｐｒｏｖｉｎｃｅ

On October 17， 2005， the Chinese， Japanese， Korean Women’s Conference jointly sponsored by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shandong Provincial People’s Government， the Shandong Provincial Women’s Federation and the Shangdong Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries was held in Jinan， Shandong Province. 220 women from three countries happily gathered together， and through various kinds of exchanges such as exhibitions， forums， cultural performances， etc. recalled the past， looked forward to the future， deepened mutual understanding and laid a good foundation for the friendly exchanges and cooperation in the future. Chen Yongchang， CPAFFC vice president， and leading officials of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee as well as Takako Doi，former speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives and former chairperson of the Japanese Social Democratic Party， and Ha Young-Ae， president of the Korea (ROK)-China Women’s Exchange Association， were invited to the meeting.

At the exhibition hall were displayed calligraphic works and paintings by women artists of the three countries and large-sized photos about women’s life and the development of undertaking for women’s welfare in recent years. Women handicraft artists gave demonstration of their skills at the hall. All this showed different features of the women of the three countries and their gracefulness. Participants of the meeting appreciated the handicrafts and the photos carefully， read the captions under the photos and had pictures taken with the artists in front of the exhibits. The exhibition not only showed the great achievements and positive contributions made by the women in the three countries in recent years， but also provided an opportunity for them to understand and know each other.

One of the striking characteristics of the conference was that it actively advocated equality between the sexes and sought harmonious development of relations between men and women. Everywhere at the exhibition one could see women striving for equality between the sexes. In the photos one could see hard-working women. Calligraphic works， paintings and handicrafts displayed women’s extraordinary talents. The Chinese， Japanese， Korean Women’s Forum held on the afternoon of that day reflected the importance and urgency of equality between the sexes. In their speeches， women participants from the three countries recalled the past and looked ahead to the future. Zhao Yulan， chairperson of the Shandong Provincial Women’s Federation， gave a keynote speech about the work on women’s welfare in Shandong Province. Proceeding from “peace and human rights” and current situation of women’s livelihood， and based on the facts， Ms. Doi pointed out in her speech， though women’s status， on the whole， has been raised， poverty and war still seriously endanger women’s rights and interests. She said， without peace there will be no human rights. She called on the broad masses of women to unite to make their contributions to peace and development in Northeast Asia and the world at large. After making a comparison of the education policy and women’s participation in social education in the three countries， Ms. Ha Young-Ae said that women should accelerate their steps to enter society， engage in various kinds of learning so as to enrich their knowledge and develop their potentiality. From her personal experience， Ms. Suma Hayashida from Fukuoka of Japan， told the participants about the changes of Japanese women’s livelihood and ideology after the Second World War. The Chinese representative gave a detailed introduction and exposition of the development of women’s talents in Shandong as well as the problem of equality between the sexes. The various speakers at the forum talked from different angles about women’s participation in economic activities and the policies and measures on women’s problems made and adopted by the central governments and local governments. The forum made closer the relations among the women of the three countries and deepened their friendship.

At the gala party， women from the three countries fully showed their talents in performance. The chorus performed by the Japanese， the fashion show by the Koreans and the performance by the Shandong Old People Art Troupe all won warm applause. Especially the Awa dance performed by the Japanese delegation of Tokushima brought the gala to a climax of joy for all the participants， who hand in hand joined the dance.