China has not only achieved tremendous progress in economic development and modernization, but also has well preserved its culture, said Deepak Sarkar, president of World Culture Net (WCN)-Nepal Center For International Exchange.

In an interview with Xinhua on Thursday Sarkar said, "Modern China developed from Chinese civilization is a very good example of cultural preservation." He added that at the modern age of development also Chinese government is preserving tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Sarkar, who had just returned from China on Wednesday completing his 14-day cultural visit, said, "If one visit China then he or she will be clear of how Chinese government is making expenses in cultural sector."

Sarkar was representing WCN in a large people-to-people cultural friendship delegation group comprising of writers, poets, artists, composers and businessmen in Nepal which had left for Lhasa on June 16.

At the invitation of International Chinese Writers' Association, Cultural Ministry of China and Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the 54-member cultural delegation headed by Ram Babu Subedi, vice president of Pestalozzi World, Nepal had paid a visit to China for two weeks.

According to Sarkar, delegation members got a best opportunity to view China closely through their own eyes. The visit was targeted with the sharing of development in China, their thoughts, cultural activities, Chinese lifestyle and literary activities.

During their stay, the delegation visited some cultural and historical sites in China, and met some famous Chinese experts and writers and hold face-to-face interaction with other concerned sectors, said Sarkar talking to Xinhua.

"In this process, we first visited Lhasa where team members found Tibet different from what they have thought. They were thinking that Tibet might have lost its greenery whereas they proved wrong after visiting it," he shared his team members experience.

The team members were fascinated with cultural preservation in Tibet after visiting Potala Palace in Lhasa, he added. Visit of the delegation was coordinated by WCN for cultural exchange, starting their visit from Lhasa.

"We traveled through Qinghai-Lhasa railway and left for culturally rich city Xi'An where we had open interaction with Chinese writers," said Sarkar. The team had also visited Terra-Cotta Museum in Xi'An, according to him.

Lauding the cultural heritage and developments in Beijing, Sarkar expressed teams astonishment of visiting Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, acrobatics and teahouses. He said that the visit was so knowledgeable and vast as they were having cultural visit. "The word culture in itself is vast, on top of that we were visiting culturally rich country China," he said. He also shared team's visit in Tianjin and industrial development there.

"After visiting Tianjin, the team went to Shanghai. Shanghai is the window to recognize Modern China," said Sarkar. There also the team met a group of litterateurs and had interaction, Sarkar added.

According to him, the Chinese writers in Shanghai also wish to visit Nepal to get familiar with Nepalese culture.

The team also visited Guangzhou which is preparing to host the 16th Asian Games. Similarly they also visited Shenzhen where he shared the excitement of visiting window of the world.

Finally the team visited Hong Kong where they were little bit nervous of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 but the situation was mild just opposite of their assumption.

"In Hong Kong, Nepali people living over there welcomed us and offered warm hospitality. Team members shared their experiences and feeling of visiting China and observing its development through their own eyes with Nepali colleague," Sarkar told Xinhua.

"The whole team fascinated with the development and the cultural values in China wished to visit China again. We did not know how fast we passed 14 days visiting China," Sarkar shared his enjoyment.

According to him, the visit was milestone to strengthen the socio-cultural relations between the two countries. Nepalese people were provided with new ideas and concepts through this visit of the renowned personalities in their respective field.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2009)