BEIJING, May 9, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- In Belgrade,
capital of Serbia, a white and modern-looking building shines in
the bright sun of early May alongside the Confucius street. In 2016
during his first state visit to the country, Chinese
President Xi Jinping laid a foundation stone for the
building.
It is the China Cultural Center built on the ruins of the
Chinese embassy in former Yugoslavia by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and
the provincial government of Shandong.
As Xi pays a second visit to Serbia, Global Times reporter went
to the center to find out how the place has gained a new life while
retaining the sentiment of friendship.
Statues of two ancient Chinese philosophers Laozi, the founder
of Taoism, and Confucius stand on either side of the entrance,
depicting a classic scenario of Confucius asking Laozi about rites
and rituals.
Great minds are born through communication with others and great
civilizations value mutual learning.
The center, covering an area of 6,000 square meters, displays
Chinese-style furniture transported all the way from China via China-Europe Railway Express. It is
more than a beautiful building, but a lively stage for local
Serbians to learn about China, a
bridge connecting the two peoples and a cradle for bilateral
friendship.
Vladimir Roglic, an IT
professional in Belgrade, learns
tai chi course at the center. Roglic first developed an interest in
China in primary school as a
karate practitioner after getting a tai chi brochure from his
neighbor.
'A perfect balance'
Roglic followed the movement step by step, and fell in love with
it for its "meditation in movement."
"It is not like yoga that you take a position and meditate; it
is not fierce sports where you 'fight'; but it is a perfect middle
way, just like the symbol of tai chi. It's all about achieving a
perfect balance between black and white, yin and
yang," Roglic told the Global Times.
Roglic, who speaks fluent Chinese, looks forward to visiting
Wudang Mountains in Central
China's Hubei Province one
day to improve his martial arts techniques at the "sacred place" of
Taoism.
Of all courses, tai chi is the most popular one while the center
also offers classes on Chinese language, calligraphy,
guzheng (a traditional Chinese musical instrument), and the
cooking and tea ceremony courses would soon to be added to the
curriculum.
Roglic's calligraphy classmate Danijela
Radanovic is a police officer from Serbia's Ministry of
Interior. She has studied Chinese language for about one year and
started the calligraphy in April to help her language learning
process.
Radanovic has long been interested in Chinese culture, the
calligraphy, music and architecture. But she started
studying Chinese for a particular reason for she wanted to
help more Chinese tourists and business people who encounter
difficulties in Serbia.
As she is getting ready to visit China in September on an exchange program,
Radanovic shared with the Global Times her excitement that she will
see the country with her own eyes and try authentic Chinese
food.
"I really want to visit Sichuan
[Province] to see the pandas. But there are also other places I
want to go… Maybe I will live in China one day," Radanovic said.
A strong sense of friendship and warmth can be felt through
conversations with students attending classes at the center.
The cultural center has only entered its trial operation very
recently, and Milica Milovic is the
first local employee. Milovic said that she is proud to be part of
the China-Serbia ironclad friendship by working at the center. When
asked about the first thing that came up to her mind related to
China, Milovic sang the famous
"Bella Ciao," an Italian folk song which became a Chinese street
melody in 1977, when Yugoslavian film The Bridge was
introduced to China.
Milovic mentioned the tragic bombing of the Chinese embassy in
1999 as an early strong bond connecting China and Serbia, noting that the friendship
has been enriched and fortified over the years.
President Xi, in his signed article published Tuesday in local
media Politika, wrote "The China-Serbia friendship, forged with the
blood of our compatriots, will stay in the shared memory of the
Chinese and Serbian peoples, and will inspire us to march forward
with big strides."
The giant painting decorates the entrance hall of the cultural
center, peony blossoms with the title "a peaceful and prosperous
time," speaks of a common wish that China and Serbia could make their mutual
progress a reality and join hands to build a human community of
shared future in the new era.
Real friends
Milovic recalled her stay in Changsha, a relaxing city in Central China's Hunan Province, in 2023 to improve her
Chinese, during which she "started learning more about Chinese
culture."
"Even though I like Chinese culture, music and food, the thing
that makes me love China the most
are the Chinese people," she said.
Milovic's remarks are a testament that amid exchanges on food,
music and art, culture, or other sectors like trade and technology,
what matters the most are the people.
As Confucius said 2,500 years ago that "it is such a delight to
have friends coming from afar," in Belgrade, Chinese people are treated as real
friends.
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SOURCE Global Times