Yukari Tsuru: Youth exchanges promote Sino-Japanese friendship

From July 5 to 9, 2018, the Shanghai delegation visited Fukuoka and attended the award ceremony of this year’s painting exhibition with the Korean delegation. In the view of Yukari, Chinese children are better at expression in their paintings and are more active than Japanese children. “A fifth-grade kid from Shanghai befriended me on WeChat and sent many messages to me, like ‘We arrived in Busan.’ ‘The food here is delicious!' ‘When will you come to Shanghai next time?' Socially, I think they are more active than Japanese children.”

In 2003, the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC) and the Bellpo Organization launched the China-Japan Children’s Painting Exhibition. Over the next decade, the painting exhibition has not only grown in size, but also expanded from Shanghai’s Luwan District (now a part of Huangpu District) to the whole city, and from Fukuoka to Kyushu, and the selected paintings have been of higher quality.

In 2013, following the proposal of SPAFFC, South Korean Busan Foundation for International Activities became one of the event hosts — this is how the China-Japan-Korea Children’s Painting Exhibition came into being. Each year, 300 paintings are selected from over 10,000 entries for a tour in the three countries, and outstanding works are honored with awards. Apart from getting certificates and prizes, children have the opportunity to go to each other’s country to visit educational facilities and communicate with friends from all over the world. They are also invited to visit foreign embassies and consulates.