Published on: 2026-06-08
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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The last days of Russian Anna Samodolova were occupied with coordinating the details of the Russian group’s tour in China with Moscow partners. Having lived in China for many years, she became a sort of intermediary in the cultural exchange between the peoples of Russia and China.
In 2022, Anna enrolled in the master’s program at Xi’an Jiaotong University majoring in “Management.” After completing her studies, she stayed in Xi’an and founded her own consulting company. According to her, initially the company mainly provided consultations in the field of education, and later expanded its activities to cultural exchanges.
In August 2024, a Russian producer contacted Anna with a request to help organize a performance by a Russian group in China. Having never before had any dealings with Xi’an’s concert industry, she took on the selection of the venue, coordination with Chinese organizers, processing of the necessary permits, and in April 2025 the group successfully performed in Xi’an. This experience strengthened Anna’s confidence that she can facilitate cultural exchange between the two countries.She hopes that her company will help develop bilateral exchange and will acquaint listeners in both countries with the best works of young musicians from Russia and China.
More and more young people from Russia are coming to China to get acquainted with traditional culture. In 2025, the Russian guy Rostislav Tsvetkov traveled across the entire Eurasian continent and arrived in the city of Cizindechen, Zhejiang Province to study at the Ceramic University. The rich ceramic heritage of Cizindechen and its creative atmosphere immediately enchanted him. He is especially interested in the cultural connection between Russian and Chinese traditional ceramics, and he constantly compares the familiar Russian blue-and-white Gzhel with the Chinese porcelain of Jingdezhen.Rostislav hopes to achieve academic success and contribute to a deeper dialogue between the ceramic cultures of Russia and China.
One of the paintings in the permanent exhibition hall in Zone A of the Li Zijian Art Museum in Changsha, Hunan Province, titled “Sichuan” from the series “Children of Wenchuan,” invariably attracts the attention of visitors. In the lower right corner of the painting is a smiling little girl standing with her back to the sea, with a word written on her hat in Russian. The artist Li Zijian said that he specially wrote the word “Friendship” on the hat to vividly demonstrate the deep friendship between China and Russia.During the earthquake in Wenchuan County in 2008, Russia extended a helping hand to China, inviting children from the affected areas to health-improving vacations in Vladivostok and other cities. Learning about this story of Russian-Chinese friendship, Li Ciziyan was deeply touched and painted this picture.
According to Li Ciziyan, there have been long-standing connections between Russian and Chinese visual arts. Part of European art, Russian oil painting is an independent direction with its own national characteristics, and its realism and humanistic spirit are close and understandable to the Chinese people. Li Ciziyan’s museum has already held four exhibitions of Russian artists. And now Li Ciziyan is actively working on organizing an exhibition in China of works by Russian itinerant artists.He believes that artists from the two countries often draw inspiration from each other in their work, and art can serve as a unique bridge for Sino-Russian exchanges.
Li Yunjuan, chairman of the academic council of the Institute for Social Development of Eurasia’s Research Center for Development under the State Council of the PRC, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, notes that humanitarian exchanges are capable of breaking stereotypes and cultural barriers, and thanks to deep interaction in the fields of education, tourism, art, and other areas, the peoples of China and Russia in the process of direct interaction become familiar with the historical traditions and ways of life of each other, thus laying the very emotional foundation of mutual trust.
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