Visit of a high-ranking Chinese delegation to The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum

With great success and in an excellent atmosphere, an important meeting was held on Friday, June 16, 2023, at the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in the author's ancestral village, Myrtia Heraklion.

Senior officials from China of the Development, Tourism, and Culture Corporation of Shaoxing Prefecture and Keqiao District, the leadership of the Lu Xun Museum (Shaoxing Lu Xun Museum), a professor from Shaoxing University, as well as the Diplomatic Counselor for Cultural Affairs of the Embassy of China in Greece visited the Kazantzakis Museum, where after a guided tour of the Permanent Exhibition, they had a scheduled meeting with the leadership and staff of the Museum, the Deputy Governor of Tourism and Electronic Government of the Region of Crete and the Greek Branch of the International Society of Nikos Kazantzakis Friends.

At the end of the talks, a Cooperation Protocol was signed between the Nikos Kazantzakis and Lu Xun Museums in the fields of organizing thematic exhibitions and exchange of material from the collections of the two museums, joint translation and publishing activity, training and staff exchange and in general mutual support and promotion of issues related to the cultural heritage of the two historical cultures of Greece and China.

This Cooperation Protocol coincides with the anniversary celebrations of the two museums, as the Kazantzakis Museum celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, while the Lu Xun Museum celebrates its 70th anniversary. Lu Xun is considered the father of modern Chinese literature, and the Shaoxing Lu Xun Museum, located in his hometown, is one of 3 museums dedicated to him in China.

This meeting and cooperation confirms the timeless and stable bond that has developed with China, 88 years after the first visit of Nikos Kazantzakis to this great country. A bond that already counts many stages, such as the presence of a Chinese diplomatic delegation at the opening of the Kazantzakis Museum in 1983, the twinning of the Nikos Kazantzakis and Lu Xun Museums in 2012 in China, the holding of the "Traveling...China" festival in 2019 and of course the two months ago visit to Myrtia of the Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism and the Chinese Ambassador to Greece.

The universality of the thought and life of Nikos Kazantzakis continues to be a channel of communication between different cultures and the brotherhood of the Peoples of the Earth.