The final review of the five Chinese cities vying for the title of 2021 Culture City of East Asia is held in Beijing on Sept 4, 2020. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

The final review of the five Chinese cities vying for the title of 2021 Culture City of East Asia was held in Beijing on Sept 4.

The five cities are Taiyuan in Shanxi province, Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, Dunhuang in Gansu province, and Zibo and Yantai in Shandong province.

Representatives from each city delivered presentations on a series of topics concerning the cities, including the establishment of cultural systems and future development plans.

Shaoxing obtained the highest score in the on-site expert review organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which means the Zhejiang city will win the title.

As part of a joint activity by China, Japan and South Korea, the East Asia City of Culture program was first proposed by the cultural ministers of the three countries during the third ministerial conference in Nara, Japan in January 2011.

Since the program's initial launch in 2013, 21 cities from the three countries have been designated as the Culture City of East Asia. The Chinese cities include Quanzhou in Fujian province, Qingdao in Shandong province, Ningbo in Zhejiang province, Changsha in Hunan province, Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Xi’an in Shaanxi province, and Yangzhou in Jiangsu province.

This year's three winners from the three countries will be offered official certificates at the 12th China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Ministers' Meeting to be held in Japan this December.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism started the review process last September. Evaluation criteria include external cultural exchange, public cultural services, inheritance and preservation of intangible cultural heritage, protection and utilization of cultural relics, city brand building and urban planning, as well as the strength of the city's culture and tourism industry.