ELEVATED PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE EXCHANGES

During his first state visit to the EU countries, the Chinese president said in his keynote speech at the College of Europe in Belgium's Bruges that China and Europe need to build four "bridges" of peace, growth, reform and progress of civilization to step up friendship and cooperation.

On the bridge of common cultural prosperity linking the two major civilizations of China and Europe, Xi said China represents the Eastern civilization in an important way, while Europe is the birthplace of the Western civilization.

During his upcoming visit, Xi will take part in cultural activities to deepen the China-Britain friendship and promote bilateral exchanges. In recent years, the people-to-people exchanges, which play an important role in the China-Britain relationship, have been further enhanced.

This year marks the first "China-UK Cultural Exchange Year", with both sides holding various activities in the other country, forming a bigger platform for the cultural creative industries in both countries as well as providing opportunities for people from both countries to enjoy literature and art works and communicate with each other.

While there are around 150,000 Chinese students studying in Britain, there are 6,000 British students studying in China. According to a British report, China has become the largest source of overseas students in Britain.

In the meantime, Britain is experiencing a "Mandarin fever," with over 20 Confucius Institutes being established in 10 years, ranking the first among EU countries.