The United Kingdom

China and Britain both have made historic contributions to advance world civilisation; both countries have evolved cultures that have had profound global impact. Increasingly our peoples have shown a strong interest to know more about each other. For example, China has hundreds of millions of citizens learning English. There is a deep interest in r... eading great British writers such as William Shakespeare and Adam Smith. In Britain, many tens of thousands of young people are now learning Mandarin and in turn taking an interest in Chinese culture and history. At the Edinburgh International Festival in 2011, British audiences clearly loved the ballet 'The Peony Pavilion' and the Peking Opera version of 'The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan'. In turn the Chinese version of the hugely popular musical 'Mamma Mia', that was created in the UK, has been extremely popular with audiences in China. I know that Chinese people were very touched by the British public reaction to the massive Wenchuan Earthquake in China in 2008; the generousity and warmth of feeling shown by UK people made a big impact in China. As an expression of Chinese goodwill, the people of China expect the two giant pandas, Tiantian and Yangguang, to bring much joy to children in Britain. Britain saw a modern China from the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo. Likewise, the Chinese look to the London Olympic Games to showcase a creative Britain. The 40-year partnership has given us stronger will to rise to global challenges together. Over the past 40 years, China, Britain and the world have all experienced enormous changes. Increasingly a 'global village' has emerged with many shared challenges. For example, energy and resources scarcity, food security, nuclear non-proliferation and climate change; all these issues reach across borders and require global responses. Our interdependence has reached a point where our destinies are more closely tied together than ever before. China and Britain increasingly act together to meet these challenges. We do this ...Read More