A forum to discuss how to further develop itself and leverage its status as a winner of the Culture City of East Asia title was held on July 20 in Harbin, capital of China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province.
 
The Harbin forum was attended by more than 60 guests and representatives from other friendly cities, including Quanzhou, Qingdao, Ningbo, Changsha, Xi'an, Yangzhou, Shaoxing, Dunhuang, Jinan and Wenzhou. 
 
Attendees shared their insights into holding festivals and brand activities to develop a city’s cultural infrastructure, boost the vitality of its development and enhance its image.
 
They also spoke about their experience in cultural heritage protection, public cultural service improvement and the development of the cultural and tourism industries in their respective cities. 
 
Organizers said that the forum not only offered the opportunity to share experience, but was also useful to improve their city liaison network.
 
Since the Culture City of East Asia campaign was launched in 2013, 13 cities from China, Japan and South Korea have been crowned with the title. 
 
Harbin -- together with Kanazawa and Busan -- jointly won the title of Culture City of East Asia on Aug 7, 2017.
 
As the only metropolis in Northeast China so far honored with the title, Harbin has reportedly taken full advantage of its world-class and national-level activities to showcase the unique charms of the city’s culture to the world.
 
These activities include the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, the Harbin Summer Concert, the Schoenfield International String Competition and the Harbin International Marathon.