China Opens Website for "Year of China" in Russia

webmaster@xinhua.org

The official website for the "Year of China" in Russia in 2007, formally opened o­n Monday (June 4, 2007).

The website, in both Chinese and Russian, will cover all the activities the leaders of China and Russia attend, and exchanges between the two countries in politics, trade, culture, education, health, sports, media, science and technology and military issues during the "Year of China".

The website will contain a dozen programs including news, important activities, authoritative interviews, news photographs, video programs, netizen discussions, o­n-line researches, media comments and overseas feedbacks, according to its operator, the Xinhua News Agency and Xinhua Website.

The website can be accessed at www.2007china.org:

English: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2007china/index.htm

Russian: http://www.russian.xinhuanet.com/russian/2007china/index.htm

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged new year's greetings o­n Sunday, and announced the start of "the Year of China" in Russia.

Hu said the "Year of China" in Russia will deepen traditional friendship between the two peoples and will play an active role in strengthening relations between the two countries.

In July 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly announced that the Year of Russia would be held in 2006 in China and the Year of China would be held in 2007 in Russia.

The activities represent an important advance in Sino-Russian relations, which will further the development of bilateral relations, said Hu in a New Year message to Putin o­n Dec. 31 of 2005.

During the Year of Russia in China, which was launched in March 2006, more than 250 events have been held in trade, investment and cultural fields.

To continue: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_focus/2007-06/02/content_98616.htm

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China and Russia

Review of Bilateral Relations

Date of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations: October 2, 1949

(At that time between the PRC and the USSR. After the Soviet Union was disintegrated, China and Russia signed o­n December 27, 1991 a summery of talks, by which the question of succession of the relations between China and Russia was solved.)

To continue: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_focus/2007-06/01/content_98585.htm

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Year of China in Russia

The "Year of China in Russia" has been widely hailed since it opened here Tuesday and has drawn attention not o­nly in Russia but across the world.

The theme year, brought under the international media spotlight as a result of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit, continued in earnest Tuesday with the staging of the Chinese National Exhibition -- the biggest comprehensive show China has held abroad in almost three decades.

The theme year is the reciprocal event of 2006's "Year of Russia in China."

"The Chinese National Exhibition shows that it (China) has now recorded a much faster economic growth than the United States," said former Prime Minister Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov.

To continue: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_focus/2007-06/01/content_98588.htm

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President of the Organising Committee in Russia

Russian First Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev

Profile:

Dmitry A. Medvedev was born o­n September 14, 1965, in Leningrad. He graduated from Law Department, Leningrad State University, in 1987. Upon completion of the post-graduate program at the University in 1990, he obtained Ph. D. (Law), and assistant professorship.

Mr. Medvedev taught at St. Petersburg State University from 1990 to 1999. From 1990 to 1995 he served as Adviser to the Chairman, Leningrad City Council, and Expert Consultant, Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg Mayor's Office.

Mr. Medvedev was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation in 1999. In 1999 - 2000 he was Deputy Head, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.

Mr. Medvedev was Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gazprom, from 2000 to 2001, and Deputy Chairman of the Board in 2001-2002. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gazprom, since June, 2002.

Mr. Medvedev was Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office from October, 2003 to November, 2005.

Mr. Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation o­n November, 2005

Dmitry A. Medvedev is married, o­ne son.

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President of the Organising Committee in China

Chinese Vice Premier  Wu Yi

Profile

Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier and member of the Leading Party Member Group of the State Council.

Wu Yi, a native of Wuhan, Hubei Province, was born in November 1938. She joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in April 1962 and began to work in August 1962. She graduated from the Oil Refinery Department of the Beijing Petroleum Institute where she had majored in oil refinery engineering. She is a university graduate and a senior engineer. She is now a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and member of the Leading Party Member Group of the State Council.

1956-1962: Studied at the National Defense Department of the Northwest Polytechnic Institute and the Oil Refinery Department of the Beijing Petroleum Institute, majoring in oil refinery engineering.

1962-1965: Technician of a workshop and staff member of the Political Department of the Lanzhou Oil Refinery.

1965-1967: Technician of the production division, Production and Technology Department of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry.

1967-1983: Technician, deputy chief and chief of the technology section, deputy chief engineer and deputy director of the Beijing Dongfanghong Refinery.

1983-1988: Deputy general manager and Party secretary of the Yanshan Petrochemical Corporation.

1988-1991: Vice mayor of Beijing.

1991-1993: Vice minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, Deputy secretary of the ministry's Leading Party Member Group.

1993-1997: Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and secretary of the Ministry's Leading Party Member Group.

1997-1998: Alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and secretary of the Ministry's Leading Party Member Group.

1998-2002: Alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and member of the Leading Party Member Group of the State Council.

2002-2003: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and member of the Leading Party Member Group of the State Council.

2003-: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier and member of the Leading Party Member Group of the State Council.

On April 26, 2003, she was appointed to serve a concurrent post of Minister of Health.

She was an alternate member of the 13th CPC Central Committee and member of the 14th and 15th CPC Central Committees. She is a member of the 16th CPC Central Committee and its Political Bureau.

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China, Russia to Set up Third Confucius Institute

China and Russia have agreed to establish a Confucius Institute in Russia's Kazanian State University, Chinese education authorities said o­n Tuesday.

Approved by the Office of Chinese Language Council International, the Normal University of central China's Hunan Province will be in charge of Chinese language and culture programs for the institute.

According to officials of the Hunan University, the agreement will make Kazanian State University, an 203-year old institution, the host of the country's third Confucius Institute.

There are a total of 10,000 people in Russia currently enrolled in Chinese-language training programs.

The Confucius Institute in Kazanian State University, o­nce set up, will offer a series of Chinese-language programs and training to Chinese-language teachers for primary and middle schools as well as colleges.

Confucius, born in 551 B.C., was a great Chinese thinker, philosopher, statesman and educator. He was also the founder of Confucianism.

Advocating the building of a harmonious society through individuals' self-refinement in manners and taste, Confucianism dominated the Chinese society for centuries and was spread to Europe in the late 16th century.

In an effort to promote the Chinese language and Chinese culture abroad, the Chinese government has set up 140 Confucius Universities in 52 countries and regions worldwide.

This year, China plans to set up another 60 Confucius Institutes around the world to help foreigners learn Chinese.

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The 2nd St.Peterburg Sino-Russian Singing Contest Unveiled