Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited the Arts of the 
Kingdom Museum in Ayutthaya, Thailand on Friday. The event was joined by 
spouses of some leaders who attended the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 
(APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Naraporn Chan-o-cha, wife of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, welcomed 
Peng when she arrived and accompanied her during the whole tour.

The museum's exhibition hall displays works of art for the Thai Royal family's 
major celebrations and traditional Thai handicrafts. Peng listened to the 
introduction of the art collections and praised the craftsmanship and 
techniques of Thai artisans.

The museum was built for preserving and developing traditional handicrafts and 
also helping families in poverty-stricken areas. Peng pointed out that it is 
similar to China's concept of poverty alleviation in underdeveloped areas.

The museum also sells handicrafts made by children out of education who have 
been trained in a handicraft training center of the Palace School. Peng said 
she would buy some of their works to support anti-poverty projects of the Thai 
Royal family.

Making and selling handicrafts has helped lift people out of poverty in many 
areas in China. Handicrafts, such as paper-cuts from northwest China's Shaanxi 
Province, embroidery and batik from southwest China's Guizhou Province, were 
developed to improve local people's income.

Intangible cultural heritage is also playing an important role in China's 
poverty alleviation efforts. From 2018 to 2020, over 2,200 intangible cultural 
heritage workshops have been built across the country, according to the 
country's Ministry of Culture and Tourism. These workshops have created half a 
million jobs, lifting more than 200,000 households out of poverty, the People's 
Daily newspaper reported.

Cultural ties between two countries

Noticing a lotus candle holder, Peng said Chinese people love lotus and 
appreciate its noble quality of growing out of mud without being stained. 
Naraporn agreed, saying lotuses are used to pay respect for Buddha by Thai 
people. Peng said it once again shows that Chinese and Thai people share 
similar values.

China and Thailand are friendly neighbors with a long history of cultural 
exchanges. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and 
Thailand in 1975, the forms of cultural exchanges between the two countries 
have been expanding and the content has become increasingly rich.

Through the efforts of Peng and Naraporn, Nanjing University of the Arts in 
China and Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in Thailand signed an 
academic memorandum of understanding in March 2019. Since then, the two schools 
have been deepening cooperation through personnel exchanges, joint research and 
training in the field of music.

In the field of literature, Princess of Thailand Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has 
also contributed a lot to cultural ties between the two countries. She likes 
Chinese culture and has translated many Chinese literature works into the Thai 
language. The Princess, the first Thai Royal family member to visit China, has 
paid about 50 visits to China and has published several travel notes on her 
trips. She has become a recipient of China's Friendship Medal in 2019.

Chinese has been a popular language among Thai students in recent years, with 
more than one million students learning Chinese in schools. In Thailand, there 
are more than 2,000 primary and secondary schools offering Chinese courses, 
Xinhua reported. Since 2003, China has sent more than 20,000 volunteers to 
teach Chinese language in Thailand's schools.

During the visit, Peng communicated with other spouses of APEC economies' 
leaders as well and they took photos together.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-11-18/Peng-Liyuan-attends-spouses-event-of-APEC-leaders-in-Ayutthaya--1f41qNP2cV2/index.html


Source CGTN