Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, unveils its first overseas cultural station in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Dec 15. [Photo/WeChat Account: jnslyj]

Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, unveiled its first overseas cultural station in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Dec 15, aiming to promote the city's culture to European countries.

The cultural station will serve as a hub for displaying featured cultural products of Jinan to meet the cultural demands of overseas Chinese and further open up the city to the outside world.

Yang Feng, director of the Jinan municipal publicity department, attended the unveiling ceremony and said that the station, first of its kind of Jinan, marks another step forward for China and Netherlands in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to Yang, Jinan and Netherlands have enjoyed relations for many years in the fields of economy, culture and sports.

Jinan and Leiden, a famous industrial city in the Netherlands, became sister cities in 2019. The famous Dutch folk story Reynard the Fox was even adapted into a children's play by the Jinan Children's Art Theater. The two sides also cooperated in football training.

The cultural station is jointly sponsored by the Jinan municipal publicity department, Jinan culture and tourism bureau and the Shandong Lucion Investment Holdings Group.

The Jinan government plans to add another 10 cultural stations in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, including Japan, France, South Korea, Russia, Poland and Serbia, by 2020.

It is expected to establish a batch of cultural stations in 50 countries within three years to promote traditional Chinese culture and increase the influence of Jinan's culture abroad.