Building on friendship

Ever since Malta and China established diplomatic ties 33 years ago, relations between the two countries have not only been very cordial but they have also been built on mutual friendship. Over the past week I could appreciate the truth of that statement as I spent a week in China as guest of the Chinese Minister of Culture.

During my visit, the Minister, Sun Jiazheng. and I signed the 'Implementing Accord (2005-2008) between the Governments of the People's Republic of China and Malta'.

The agreement establishes a precise programme of cultural exchanges between the two countries for the four-year period. It is an agreement through which both sides will encourage and facilitate direct links and visits between China and Malta by artists, arts administrators, curators and heritage managers.

During the validity of the programme, the two countries will exchange two groups of performing artists of not more than 30 persons altogether to visit the other country for a period of ten days each.

Moreover, there will be an exchange of one art/cultural heritage exhibition which is open to the public at least for one month in one or more locations in the receiving country.

My visit to China included Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. In Xi'an, a city that I was visiting for the first time, I could not help admiring the museum of the Qin terracotta warriors and horses. This is one of the most significant archaeological excavations of the 20th century.

The entire world is the richer for a discovery made by chance in 1974 when a farmer uncovered some pottery while digging for a well near the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The farmer who made the discovery is still present at the site, and proudly so.

When Qin ascended to the throne at the age of 13 in 246 BC he had commissioned the building of his mausoleum, a work which took 11 years to finish. The main feature of this burial place was the creation of a reproduction of what the imperial guard would have looked like in those days.

As a result of the excavations carried out since 1974, over 7,000 life-size terracotta figures of warriors and horses arranged in battle formation, apart from chariots, weapons and bones relating to sacrificial offerings of the time, have been unearthed. The discovery is not only of inestimable value in its own right but is also helping historians work out the precise military strategies adopted at the time since the terracotta figures were placed in a formation that brings to perfect light the strategy, the tactics for rulers, commanders, soldiers and others as they took up different positions in the battlefield.

During my visit to China, we immediately began to discuss the possibility of bringing over to Malta an exhibition about this theme, including a small number of the authentic terracotta warriors that have been unearthed. In the coming months, we will need to examine all the technical and logistical details that would be involved in a project of such magnitude, and I have extended an invitation to the technical experts involved to visit Malta and begin to work on a concrete proposal.

Within the context of the programme of cultural exchanges between China and Malta, another possibility that we have begun to explore is to bring over elements of the Beijing Opera over to Malta. I could appreciate such elements on Monday evening during a performance at the Liyuan Theatre.

It is already planned that between January 28 and March 28, 2006, we will host an exhibition of characters in the Beijing Opera at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. The exhibition will consist of models in costume as well as provide information about the kind of pageantry, stylisation and type of heroes and heroines that constitute the Beijing Opera. If this initiative can at a later stage be followed up by an actual performance that brings over to Malta at least a few of the main characters of that Opera, I am confident that that will be a learning and fascinating experience for all.

The exhibition at the Archaeology Museum will not be the first of its kind. Last October Heritage Malta hosted an exhibition of 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century relating to China.

Alongside that exhibition, a number of Chinese bronze reproductions were also displayed. Bronze art constitutes one of the most brilliant parts of the splendid Chinese civilisation with a history of 5,000 years. In Malta, visitors could see replicas of some of China's famous pieces created from the Xia to the Han Dynasties, unearthed in Shaanxi province, regarded as "the home of Chinese bronze art".

I could value bronze art in China when I visited the unique museum depicting such works in Shanghai on Friday.

Another initiative that we have already embarked upon is an exhibition about money in China. It will take place between August 15 and October 3 and will be hosted by Heritage Malta. The exhibition will include original coins and artefacts, offering visitors a holistic experience.

The cultural exchanges agreement signed in Beijing last Tuesday equally offers opportunities for Maltese artists and performers to make their presence in China.

During my visit, together with Gan Ying Lie, vice-president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, I inaugurated Project Malta 24/7, representing photographs taken by 21 photographers between July 1 and 7, 2003, depicting various aspects of the way of life in Malta. Last year, I had opened that exhibition at St James Cavalier in Malta, and I could not help feel great satisfaction to be able to inaugurate the same exhibition at the Jin Tai Art Museum in Beijing on Monday.

This project meant that for a total of 168 hours, 21 photographers from around the world were in Malta capturing through their creative eyes varied glimpses of contemporary Malta depicting our cultural heritage and our festas, our customs and young performers at theatres, our buses and boats, fishermen and the countryside - our unique blend and mix that makes Malta what it is today.

When, on Tuesday, I went to the National Tourism Administration of China to exchange views with Zhang Xiqin, its vice-chairman, about increasing tourism between our respective countries, I could easily refer to this exhibition that has already drawn to it a considerable deal of attention, as a show case that is ideal for operators and others who are interested in working further in the field of tourism. Our duty is to act as catalysts for further growth.

China is becoming one of the world's most important outbound source markets. Chinese tourists visiting France last year reached almost one million and the plan is to increase that number to around eight million in five years' time. One strategy that we discussed during my visit is to have Malta included more regularly in the European tours that operators in China are already organising.

During my visit to China, I also had the opportunity to meet Zhou Ji, the Minister of Education. At the end of this meeting, on behalf of my colleague, Louis Galea, I signed an education co-operation agreement that envisages an exchange of students and the provision of two one-year scholarships annually for this purpose.

Each country will identify undergraduates, postgraduate students and research fellows in accordance with its needs and we shall work to encourage the establishment and/or further development of collaborative relationships between higher education institutions in both countries.

Whether it was revisiting the Great Wall in Beijing, or discovering for the first time the historic delights of the walled city of Xi'an; whether it was learning what China has done to preserve and present better its history, or to ensure economic progress that now needs to be regulated since it is moving at too fast a pace; exchanging views on all subjects of common interest and finding out what has been done to present the ancient town of Zhouzhuang as a major tourist attraction reflecting part of China's authentic product, we were at all times building on friendship.

On my return from China today, I know that there is a heavy agenda to work on. It is another challenge that I am looking forward to.

info@franciszammitdimech.com

www.franciszammitdimech.com