The Festival of China, an unprecedented culture event cosponsored by the United States and China, will strengthen exchange, mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation between the peoples of the two countries, said a senior Chinese official on Saturday.

"This event is aimed to introduce Chinese arts and culture to the US public, and make them understand the internal feelings and spiritual status of the contemporary Chinese people," Chinese Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng told Xinhua ahead of the opening ceremony of the event, which will take place Saturday night at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts here.

In his view, culture acts like flowing water which touches the human heart in a subtle way, and facilitates communications between hearts of the people as a "soft power."

"This kind of exchange and communication can not be replaced by other means," Sun noted.

Although the United States and China are vastly different in many ways, both of them have great ethnic and culture diversity, he said.

Meanwhile, the differences between the two countries also make themselves attractive to each other, said the minister.

Sun noted that Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart George W. Bush agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation at the UN Summit last month and Bush will visit China within the year.

It is in the fundamental interests of both sides to further coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs and it will contribute to world peace and development, he said.

Sun said the peoples of the United States and China always have good impressions for each other. For example, he said the US cartoon figure Micky Mouse has been a longtime favorite among Chinese children and Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming are now well-known in the United States.

"We hope to work closely with the US side to usher in a new era for culture exchange between the two countries and the bilateral relations as a whole," said Sun.

The Festival of China, which runs through October in the Kennedy Center, is the largest-ever Sino-US culture event.

During the period, an unprecedented number of China's finest performers and visionaries, nearly 900 in all, will be on the stage to entertain US audience.

The event, which has been prepared for nearly three years, is expected to feature an extraordinary lineup of the most acclaimed Chinese dancers, musicians, actors, acrobats and puppeteers.

Source: Xinhua