A kunqu opera show is staged at the opening of a month-long cross-Straits cultural exchange event in Suzhou on Oct 27. [Photo/WeChat account: snd-szgxqfb]
A month-long event promoting cross-Straits cultural exchanges kicked off in Suzhou New District on Oct 27, local media outlets reported.
Officials, scholars, and business representatives from both sides of the Taiwan Straits delivered speeches or sent video messages to celebrate the successful launch of the cultural exchange month.
The Suzhou Chinese Orchestra, a four-year-old orchestra renowned for telling Suzhou's stories through its original musical works, was honored as a provincial-level cross-Straits cultural exchange base in Jiangsu province.
The day also saw the launch of 17 sideline cultural exchange activities, such as a cultural and creative carnival for youths from both sides of the Taiwan Straits, a cultural exploration camp, a festive lantern design competition, as well as an artistic performance featuring operas and songs popular in Suzhou and Taiwan.
Suzhou is one of the cities with the largest concentration of Taiwan-funded enterprises and the most developed Taiwan-funded economy in the Chinese mainland, as well as one of the cities with the most active cross-Straits exchanges.
Currently, Suzhou New District has attracted 415 Taiwan enterprises, with a total investment of $7.2 billion. In 2020, Taiwan enterprises that are above designated size (with annual revenue of $3.13 million or more) realized an industrial output value of 116.3 billion yuan ($18.22 billion), accounting for 38.4 percent of the total output value of above-designated-size enterprises in SND.
More than 3,000 Taiwan residents, including nearly 500 Taiwan youth, are currently living in SND, making the district a new hub for exchanges and cooperation between the Yangtze River Delta region and Taiwan.
