Head of State Diplomacy

On February 14, President Xi Jinping held talks with Iranian President Raisi, who came to China for a state visit in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is before the meeting, Xi Jinping held a welcoming ceremony for Raisi in the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People.

The spring breeze is gentle, and the warmth is getting stronger. On the afternoon of the 14th, President Xi Jinping held talks with Iranian President Raisi, who came to China for a state visit in the Great Hall of the People.

This is the first visit to China during President Raisi's tenure. The leaders of the two countries jointly plan and lead the future development of Sino-Iran relations, and exchanged in-depth views on regional and international issues of common concern.

"When you hear about the camel bell, the boat looks at each other. Along the thousands of kilometers of land and sea Silk Road, the two civilizations travel and embrace, and the people of the two countries travel and make friends. Seven years ago, when President Xi Jinping visited Iran, he wrote in a signed article published in Iran.

China and Iran have a long history of friendly exchanges between the two ancient civilizations. Through the time tunnel, a series of stories of people's mutual understanding and mutual learning of civilizations depict a beautiful scroll of inheritance for thousands of years.

A visit to write a new chapter of traditional friendship

On February 12, China and Iran announced President Raisi's visit to China. The Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency quickly translated this good news into multiple languages, accompanied by photos of the leaders of the two countries, and put it on the home page of its website. Mohamed Reza Manafi, editor-in-chief of the Asia-Pacific news section of IEINA, looked particularly excited: "President Raisi is going to visit China, which is very good news."

During the meeting with President Raisi, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China has always viewed and developed Sino-Iranian relations from a strategic perspective. No matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with Iran, promote the continuous new development of China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, and play a positive role in world peace and human progress in the unprecedented great changes in a century.

Although China and Iran are thousands of miles apart, friendly exchanges have a long history.

On September 12, 2021, at Guangxi Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center, visitors watched the exhibits at the Iranian booth in the "the Belt and Road" international exhibition area of the East China International Fair.

As early as 2000 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, the deputy envoy of Chinese envoy Zhang Qian came to Iran and received a grand reception. In the Tang and Song Dynasties of China after the 7th century, many Iranians went to China to study, practise medicine and do business, and traveled all over Xi'an, Guangzhou and other places. In the 13th century, the famous Iranian poet Sadi recorded an unforgettable trip to Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. In the 15th century, Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty of China led the Pangda fleet on seven ocean-going voyages, three of which reached the Hormuz region in southern Iran.

Since the formal establishment of diplomatic relations in 1971, the relations between China and Iran have withstood the test of various international changes. In the face of the current complex situation of world change, times change and history change, China and Iran support each other, unite and cooperate, and work together to fight against the COVID-19. Strategic mutual trust continues to consolidate, practical cooperation advances steadily, promoting common interests, safeguarding international fairness and justice, and writing a new chapter of China Iran friendship.

"If you believe, you will be established. If you don't believe, you will be abolished." The exchanges between people and between countries are no exception. This visit will surely become a new opportunity to promote the continuous improvement of political mutual trust between China and Iran and the continuous development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Iran.

Two sculptures enhance the dialogue between the two civilizations

Seven years ago, when publishing a signed article in Iran, President Xi Jinping quoted the poem of the famous ancient Persian poet Sadie - "For a long time, it is worth nostalgia."

Today, Sadi's statue stands in his hometown of Shiraz, Iran, and Nanjing, China, respectively, as a witness of the friendship between the two cities.

Nanjing and Shiraz officially concluded a sister-city relationship in 2018. In October of that year, Shiraz sent a letter from thousands of miles, hoping to give each other statues of important cultural figures representing both cities, so as to promote local people's understanding of each other's cities.

The statue of Cao Xueqin, set up in Jiangning Weaving Mansion, was chosen by Nanjing as the prototype of the gift sculpture, and the city of Shiraz returned the statue of Sadi. In 2022, the statues of Cao Xueqin and Sadi were unveiled in Shiraz World Landscape Park and Nanjing International Friendship Park respectively.

The "dialogue" between two historical and cultural celebrities across time and space tightens the communication link between the two ancient civilizations on the Silk Road.

This is the statue of Cao Xueqin standing in the World Landscape Park in Shiraz, southern Iran.

"As an important literary and cultural center and civilization capital of the two countries, Shiraz and Nanjing can not only jointly promote the development of Iran-China relations, but also potentially become a model of dynamic and constructive inter-city cooperation in Asian cities," said Alash Farajzad, the first deputy mayor of Shiraz.

Looking back on history, China and Iran met and learned from each other on the ancient Silk Road. The combination of silk from China and Iran's superb technology has made the Persian silk carpet noble; The combination of Suma liqing from Iran and China's superb technology has led to the elegance of blue and white porcelain. China's lacquerware, pottery, papermaking, metallurgy, printing, gunpowder and other technologies were spread to the westernmost part of Asia and even to Europe and other distant places through Iran, and pomegranate, grapes, olives, glass, gold and silver utensils were also introduced to China from Iran and Europe and other places.

Entering a new era, cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Iran have burst into new vitality. In October 2021, the second "China Film Week" was held in Tehran, and seven excellent Chinese films, including "Return", "Mordaoga" and "Birds of the Phoenix", met with Iranian audiences. The third "China Film Week" will also open later this year.

Jafar Sane Muqadham, Director General of the Iranian Film Arts and Experience Organization, said that the activities of the Film Week can enhance the understanding of the Iranian people about the Chinese film art, promote the construction of the Iran-China film exchange and cooperation platform, consolidate the cultural exchange ties between the two peoples, and make the cultural exchanges between the two ancient civilizations of Iran and China closer and deeper.

Chinese TV dramas have also been shown in Iran. The traditional Chinese medicine cultural drama "The Legend of the Princess" and the anti-epidemic drama "Together" have been translated into Persian and broadcast on Iran's national television. The poverty relief drama "Mountain and Sea" and other plays have also been authorized to Iran and are expected to be broadcast after the translation is completed.

"Peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit", the ancient and new spirit of the Silk Road, connects history at one end and leads to the future at the other.

Three wishes tell the story of people's common feelings

Hamid Wafaer, director of the Asian Research Center of the University of Tehran, once served as the Irani interpreter for the China-Iran leaders' talks in 2018. Now he is again visiting China with the delegation.

Wafae, who has been focusing on China for many years, regards deepening Iran-China relations as his dream. With the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, Iran regards China as "a country that can play an important role in the world at present and in the future," said Wafae. "If the two countries want to deepen relations, they must enhance understanding."

In order to realize their dreams, Vafae and other Iranian sinologists have been working hard to cultivate young students who understand China and speak Chinese. In order to present a real China to the Iranian public, Wafae has been interviewed by the Iranian media many times to help the public better understand the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and China-Iran relations. He also devoted himself to studying President Xi Jinping's important statements and propositions, believing that the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping highlight the "elements of Eastern Civilization" and can play an important role in solving current world problems.
 

On January 18, Iranian young students displayed Chinese Spring Festival decorations in a park in Tehran, the capital of Iran. On the same day, the Confucius Institute of the University of Tehran in Iran organized young students to study traditional customs and experience Chinese culture together with Chinese teachers to welcome the arrival of the Spring Festival.

Mubina Moradhani is a student of Wafae. As a junior in college, she made many Chinese friends because of learning Chinese. "The friendly development of China-Iran relations has encouraged me to introduce my country's culture to more Chinese friends, so that they can understand Iran's extensive and profound culture more deeply," Moradhani said. "I hope I can become an ambassador of China-Iran people-to-people and cultural exchanges in the future."

The Chinese and Iranian people have learned from each other in their long-term friendship, and the exchanges between the two countries in culture, education, news, publishing, tourism and other fields have deepened. This allows young people like Moradhani to have more learning opportunities, better employment prospects and more colorful dreams.

Meng Yaqi, Iran's "online red blogger", has become a Chinese guide and short video blogger with her outstanding language skills. After 15 years of learning Chinese, she has millions of fans on China's We-media platform. Meng Yaqi was very excited about President Raisi's visit to China: "I hope this visit can further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries and benefit the common people."

The Persian proverb says, "There is a way between the hearts of the people." The growing public opinion base of China-Iran friendship has made the hearts and hands of the two peoples connected.

It is expected that under the leadership of the Head of State's diplomacy, the two peoples will work together to draw a new era of China-Iran friendly cooperation, inherit and carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road, constantly enrich the connotation of bilateral relations, improve the level of practical cooperation, and promote the greater development of China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership.