China and Chile are located at opposite ends of the world and are far apart, but the peoples of the two countries have a long history of exchanges and have forged an indissoluble bond. The Nobel Prize in Literature and the great Chilean poet Neruda affectionately called China a "great brother". China (Chi

a) Chile and Chile not only share a brotherly name, but also a brotherly friendship between the two peoples.

The people of China and Chile have always had a tradition of knowing each other. The people of the two countries look at each other across the sea and appreciate each other. Neruda visited China many times and wrote poems praising and blessing China, such as "Song of the Land of China" and "The Wind of Asia". His works have been widely praised in China and have influenced many Chinese poets. The famous Chilean painter Vontuleri has lived in China for many years, and he borrowed from Chinese ink painting techniques to create works such as "Yangtze River", which are full of deep attachment to China. These poems and paintings embody the deep friendship between the Chinese and Chilean peoples. They established the Chilean Chinese Association, the first non-governmental friendship organization toward China in Latin America, and led groups of people of insight to devote themselves to the cause of Sino-Chilean friendship. There is a "Yangtze River Primary School" in San Diego, which means that the friendship between China and Chile is like the Yangtze River.

——Signed article published in Chilean media, "Jointly Creating a Better Future for China-Chile Relations" (November 22, 2016)

Further reading:

Pablo Neruda, born in 1904 in Palar, Chile, is a famous contemporary Chilean poet. He began publishing poetry at the age of 13, publishing his first collection of poems "Dusk" in 1923 and his famous work "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair" in 1924. Neruda was very interested in China and Chinese culture, and came to China three times in his life. In 1928, he came to China to present the Lenin International Peace Prize to Soong Ching Ling, and met Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Ai Qing and other literary celebrities. During the interview, he learned that the character "Nie" in his Chinese translation is composed of three ears (聶, simplified "聂"), so he said: "I have three ears, and the third ear is dedicated to listening to the sound of the sea. ”

José Ventuleri, born in Santiago, Chile in 1924 and died in Beijing in 1988, was an internationally renowned master of painting, printmaking and murals, as well as an "envoy" to China, Chile and Latin America. In 1952, he was invited to Beijing with his wife and daughter, becoming the first well-known Latin American artist to visit after the founding of the People's Republic of China. As Deputy Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the Asia-Pacific Peace Conference, Vontuleri lived in China with his family for eight years. He established deep friendships with Premier Zhou Enlai, artists Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi, and poet Ai Qing. He teaches at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, bringing fresh artistic ideas to Chinese students. His artistic practice is also influenced by China, pursuing delicate lines and brushstrokes, open compositions and free use of color. Paintings such as "Autumn of Fury", "Lushan" and "The Courtyard of Beijing" have absorbed traditional Chinese painting techniques. Xi Jinping's "Yangtze River" adopts the traditional composition of Chinese landscape painting. As his granddaughter Malva said: "For José Vontuleri, China is of paramount importance, it is a symbol of his mind, his art and his spirit. ”

China and Chile are located on opposite sides of the world, but the friendly exchanges between the two countries have a long history. As early as 1952, Neruda, Ventuleri and politician Allende initiated the establishment of the Chile-China Cultural Association, the first non-governmental friendship organization in Latin America. Today, Chile has two Confucius Institutes and more than 20 Chinese language teaching centers in Chile, with a population of just over 16 million, and the Confucius Institute Latin America Center is located in the capital Santiago. The "Yangtze River Primary School" mentioned by Xi Jinping, located in Queens, Santiago Region, was officially named in 1987 and was the first to offer Chinese language courses in Chilean primary schools in 2008.

After visiting Chile in 2011, Xi Jinping set foot on this beautiful land again in 2016, "with great affection and full of expectations". As he put it in his byline, "China (Chi

a) Chile and Chile not only share a brotherly name, but also a brotherly friendship between the two peoples. In this article, Xi recalls the many "firsts" created by the relationship between the two countries: Chile was the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, the first Latin American country to sign a bilateral agreement with China on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the first to recognize China's full market economy status, and the first to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with China. With the joint efforts of the two peoples, China-Chile relations have flourished and yielded fruitful results. In this article, Xi Jinping also mentioned that the Chilean branch of China Construction Bank officially opened as the first RMB clearing bank in Latin America, adding a new "first" to China-Chile relations; Today, China is Chile's largest trading partner and the largest export destination for copper, cherries, blueberries, seafood, wine and other products. Fernando Reyes, Chile's former ambassador to China, said the multiple "firsts" mentioned by President Xi Jinping were impressive. The "past" and "new things" of friendly exchanges between the Chinese and Chilean peoples are just like the Latin American proverb quoted by Xi Jinping during his visit to Chile: "A true friend can touch your heart from the other side of the world." ”