Japan-China Friendship Association President Ikuo Hirayama Visits Shanxi

At the invitation of the CPAFFC, Ikuo Hirayama, president of the Japan-China Friendship Association, visited Shanxi from June 2 to 8 to study the preservation of cultural relics and the development and use of tourist resources while making some art creations.

Ikuo Hirayama, famous Japanese social activist and painter who enjoys high reputation in the world, was elected president of the Japan-China Friendship Association in 1992. His works of art, most of which have Buddhist culture as their theme, have won him many international and Japanese awards. He visited Dunhuang for the first time in 1979 when he made contributions to the archaeological researches about the Dunhuang Caves and the preservation of cultural relics. In 2002, he was given the “Award for Contribution to Cultural Exchanges” by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

Owing to his enthusiastic promotion, the Japanese government provided grant aid for the construction of the Conservation, Research and Exhibition Centre for Dunhuang Grottoes Relics. With his help Xi’an restored the Daming Palace with UNESCO funds in 1993. In 1995, he advocated to restore the ancient city wall of Nanjing. In recent years, Hirayama gave personal donations to many provinces and autonomous regions including Hebei, Yunnan, Tibet, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia for building Hope Primary Schools in their poverty-stricken areas.

In Shanxi, Hirayama carefully studied Ping Yao, the best-preserved ancient city in China, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO in 1997, and the more than 1,400-year-old Shuanglin Temple. He also had a discussion with relevant government departments on the preservation of cultural relics and development of tourism around Mount Wutai, the famous and the only place where both Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism are practiced, and the world cultural heritage Yungang Grottoes in Datong. During his visit, he made a lot of sketches and other art works.

At their meeting, Song Beishan, deputy governor of Shanxi Province, expressed his appreciation of Ikuo Hirayama’s efforts to carry forward the cause of cultural exchanges between China and Japan and his contributions to promoting archaeological research and preservation of cultural relics, especially those in Shanxi. He emphasized that, on the sixth list of state-level cultural relics protection units announced recently by the State Council, 152 of them are in Shanxi. Together with119 previously listed ones, they account for 11.9% of the country’s total. There are 35,000 unmovable cultural relics in the province, ranking the first in China. Shanxi’s cultural relics have a long history and high artistic value which make their preservation a heavy task. Song Beishan said, this time Mr. Hirayama has seen the essence of Shanxi’s cultural relics in the ancient city of Ping Yao, Mount Wutai and Datong. He welcomed him to come again and more Japanese friends to come for sightseeing as well as cultural exchanges and art creations.