Themed "Splendid Xiaoxiang, Harmonious Coexistence," Hunan Week at the China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka unveiled its curtain on the morning of August 6, 2025. The event aimed to showcase to the world Hunan's sound business environment, beautiful ecological civilization, and vibrant development momentum, promoting cultural exchange and mutual learning, and fostering consensus on cooperation.

Wu Jianghao, Chinese ambassador to Japan, and Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. 

Also present were Taizo Mikazuki, governor of Japan's Shiga Prefecture, and Zhang Shujing, director of the China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka.

Director Wu remarked in his speech that Hunan is blessed with a precious natural and cultural heritage. The inscription "first to worry about the nation's woes and last to share in its prosperity" (a famous quote by statesman Fan Zhongyan from his 1046 essay 'Record of Yueyang Tower') is engraved on the Yueyang Tower. Yuelu Academy, which served as the prototype for modern universities, traces its history back over a thousand years.

Hunan is the cradle of the Chinese revolution. A large number of Chinese revolutionaries were born here, including Mao Zedong, the principal founder of the People's Republic of China.

The Director indicated that Hunan is now a hotbed of economic development. Advanced sci-tech achievements such as artificial satellites, the "Tianhe" supercomputer, and super hybrid rice have become Hunan's new calling cards. Intelligent manufacturing, agricultural products, healthcare, environmental technology, and cultural tourism have emerged as Hunan's five new major industries.

Hunan's development is a microcosm of China's modernization. The Director noted that Hunan looks forward to friends from around the world participating in the Hunan Week activities at the Osaka Expo to gain a deeper understanding of an authentic, comprehensive, and dynamic Hunan and China, and to jointly write a new chapter of friendly cooperation.

Hunan Week is hosted by the People's Government of Hunan Province, and is undertaken by the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, the Ecology and Environment Department of Hunan Province, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and the Hunan Sub-council of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The event will last for three days and will include a series of activities such as an economic and trade cooperation and negotiation conference, a friendship city meeting, an environmental protection technology exchange meeting, a cultural and tourism promotion conference, the Xiaoxiang reception-dialogue meetings, and the city promotional meetings.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn