2019 “Tianyan Cup” China (Hangzhou) International Children’s Cartoon Contest (ICCC) yielded fruitful results

Reported by Li Zheng

The “Tianyan Cup” ICCC, as one of the brand activities of China International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF), has been held for six years. Every year after the CICAF, the ICCC will start an international exhibition tour to introduce Chinese culture to the world and learn the world culture.

The 2019 ICCC has received 43,778 entries from 921 teams of 32 countries and regions, including more than 6,000 from 82 overseas teams.

The 2019 “Tianyan Cup” international exhibition tour has ended in Canada, Singapore and Japan and will start in Malaysia, the UK and Germany.

Canada

Artistic and caring

The 2019 ICCC international exhibition tour started in the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, where exhibited more than one hundred award-winning works of children from China, Canada and other countries. Hundreds of young artists gathered there, exchanged ideas about their works and shared the characteristics and food culture of their own countries.

Alice Wang, a Member of Congress of Canada said, “The ICCC is renowned worldwide. It provides a platform for children to learn from each other through exchanging views and show their artistic talent.”

A grand award and exhibition ceremony was held for award-winning children there, which was also a caring activity. Nearly one hundred little artists donated their works for charity bazaar and the proceeds of RMB 5,000 was used to fund the Global Polio Eradication Initiative initiated by the Rotary Club and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Singapore

Strengthened six-year friendship

“What a beautiful jasmine flower” is a line of a familiar song to Chinese people named Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower). The tender song rang through the Jurong Regional Library, unveiling the exhibition tour in Singapore.

It was sung by 30 little painters from Hangzhou, who witnessed the award ceremony, attended the opening ceremony and made friends with Singapore’s award-winning children.

A total of 30 Chinese children appreciated the works together with 30 Singapore kids and the latter has better understood Chinese culture including food through those works. Huang Zhanming , chief judge of the contest and President of the Comics Society (Singapore) was full of praise for the activity. In his view, the exhibition tour held in Singapore for six consecutive years greatly enhanced cultural exchanges between the two countries. It allowed people in Singapore to better understand Chinese culture and helped Chinese children learn more about overseas culture and improved their capacities.

Huang also planned to visit Hangzhou Youth & Children’s Center and hold a cartoon exchange exhibition for children from China and Singapore.

Japan

Building a culture and art exchange platform for Chinese and Japanese youth

The year 2019 is the official “Japan-China Youth Exchange Promotion Year” while the ICCC international exhibition tour in the Adachi City Culture and Art Theater became a good platform for cultural and artistic exchanges between the youth of the two countries.

A total of 50 little Chinese painters brought 50 cartoon works to Tokyo. They witnessed the opening ceremony of the exhibition tour and the profound friendship between Chinese and Japanese children.

In this activity, Japan and the UNESCO office in Japan arranged a two-day Japanese culture experiencing activity for Chinese children. In the mountainous area of Gifu, Chinese children has a deeper understanding of Japanese culture through experiencing the noh, zen, tea ceremony, Kyohai and folk dance. Tours in Tokyo, Nagoya and Kyoto made those children feel like bathing in art and enriched their creative inspiration.

Yuji Suzuki, Director-General of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan has long been devoted to international relations and has mentored many Chinese students in his 50 years of teaching. He hoped to see more exchanges between the two countries and he said, “Let we eastern countries shoulder more responsibility for international exchanges.”