Flowering Friendship Between Two Cities

i’an of China and Chinju （Jinju） of the Republic of Korea are famous ancient capitals of their respective countries with a long history and culture heritage. It happens that both take the pomegranate flower as their symbol. In 2007， the “Spring of the Pomegranate Flower” — a friendly exchange program with folk cultural and art performances as the main focus — was launched by Xi’an. Since then， it has become an annual event held alternately in Xi’an and Chinju， its opening ceremony broadcast live in the two countries via satellite. In 2015， it was held for the eighth time as a symbol of friendship between the two cities.

Held on April 18， the opening evening party with a Silk Road theme， contained an art show of intangible cultural heritage， a photo exhibition on Xi’an and a football match between the Chinese and Korean youth.

At the opening ceremony， Korean artists performed the classic song and dance item Arirang， sand animation， traditional national music， Chinju sword dance and the dynamic hip-hop dance， while Chinese performers staged a large-scale dance Poem of the Silk Road which artistically represented how ancient China spread friendship and culture to the world through the land and maritime Silk Road， and a Chinese folk dance Lady Lan Huahua showing the life of people on the Loess Plateau of China.

The Spring of Pomegranate Flower provided the Korean audience with an excellent opportunity to have close contact with Xi’an and better understanding of the Chinese culture. On the bank of the beautiful Namgang River in Chinju， craftsmen from Xi’an took turns to show their unique skills — shadow puppet carving， mask painting， peach-stone carving， paper cutting and Chinese knot making.

The Pomegranate Flower Cup friendship football match was held between the Youth Football Team of Zhidan County， Yan’an City of Shaanxi Province and the Chinju Youth Football Team at the Chinju Sports Center. The Zhidan team 2 to 1. Zhidan County， with a population of less than 150，000， is the first county in China to run a pilot school football program， and the sport has become very popular among the young. Young players of the Zhidan Football Team traveling to the ROK to compete and swap experience with their Chinju counterparts is in line with the theme of “training of football players starting at an early age and cultivating friendship among the younger generation”.

During the Spring of Pomegranate Flower， the Xi’an Broadcast and Television Station and the Seo Kyung Cable Television Co.， Ltd. signed a long-term cooperation agreement. They will co-produce a film Passion for Home to introduce the development history of Farmer Paintings in Huxian County and love stories between young people of the two countries.

All the eight events have been extensively reported by Korean local newspapers， broadcast and TV stations， and Chinese central and local media. Several channels of the Seo Kyung Cable Television ran a 24-hour rolling coverage this time. Busan Daily also did some follow-up reporting. Xi’an Broadcast and Television Station， Xi’an Network and Le TV provided a live broadcast of the opening ceremony and the youth football match. Several news programs of CCTV ran serial reports of the activity.

The Spring of Pomegranate Flower， through cultural and art exchanges， has opened a new gateway to friendly cooperation between Xi’an and Chinju， which has brought about exchanges and cooperation in all areas including economy and trade， culture， tourism and transportation. The event is developing to promote in-depth bilateral cooperation， development of cultural industry and win-win and all-win cooperation. Xi’an Broadcast and Television Station and the Seo Kyung Cable Television agreed on co-hosting a large-scale China-Korea concert in Xi’an in September 2015. Seo Kyung Travel Service Co.， Ltd. and Shaanxi New World Air Travel Service Co.， Ltd. signed a tourism cooperation agreement.

Hui Yi， head of Xi’an Broadcast and Television Station， said： “We should take traditional culture as an entry point to carry out external exchanges and let things from China serve as ties linking Xi’an with the world. In the future， we will carry out further cooperation in developing cultural industry projects and turn the Spring of Pomegranate Flower into a famous brand of exchanges with other countries so as to contribute to the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt.”