Culture City of East Asia (CCEA) 2016 Ningbo City - Nara City - Jeju Special Self-Governing Province
Ningbo City Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Nara City

Ningbo, Zhejiang (China), Nara, Nara (Japan), and Jeju (Korea) carried out a wide variety of exchange projects as the CCEA throughout 2016. At around the time of the closing ceremony, the three cities adopted the Ningbo Suggestion on CCEA, CCEA 2016 Jeju Culture Declaration and CCEA 2016 Nara Declaration, agreeing to continue to conduct cultural exchanges. Based on these declarations, the three cities currently cooperate with their partner cities in youth exchange programs held in each region.

Jeju is also actively engaged in exchange programs with CCEA from different years, by inviting them to its programs and participating in their programs. In addition, its exchanges with non-CCEA cities in China and Japan are also expanding by hosting a variety of international events under the theme of CJK. Ningbo also sends its students to exchange programs held in Nara and Jeju, while it also invites students from Nara and Jeju to its own youth and cultural exchange programs.

December 2016: Ningbo Suggestion, Jeju Culture Declaration and Nara Declaration Signed, with the Agreement to Continue Exchanges
Ningbo, Nara, and Jeju, upon completing the activities as the CCEA 2016, signed the Ningbo Suggestion on CCEA (December 7), CCEA 2016 Jeju Culture Declaration (December 16), and CCEA 2016 Nara Declaration (December 26th) with the intention to continue conducting cultural exchanges based on the cooperation carried out throughout 2016. Based on these declarations, the three cities continue to actively carry out youth and cultural exchanges.
Programs Held by Ningbo
Ningbo has continued active exchanges with Nara and Jeju through the Ningbo International University Students Festival and Youth Exchange Program. It also operates trilateral exchange programs every year based on various themes and forms.
Programs Held by Ningbo
Name of the Program Date Details
Ningbo International University Students Festival (invitations made to university students in Jeju) June 2017
July 2018
June 2019
April 2021
The festival has been held since 2012. A total of around 200 university students from outside of China and international students studying in China participated in various programs such as experiencing traditional Chinese culture, local visits, and interaction with university students from Ningbo for four days.
Bilateral Youth Exchange Program (invitations made to high school students in Nara) November 2017 Programs such as visiting Zhejiang Textile & Fashion College to draw calligraphy, and making Chinese knots.
September 2018 Visits to museums and Tianyi Ge Library, and making mooncakes in Yongjiang Vocational High School in Ningbo.
2019 Replaced with CJK Exchange Program in Ningbo.
CJK Exchange Program in Ningbo November 2017 CJK Pottery Craftsmen Exhibition and CJK Traditional Handicrafts Seminar (Exhibition and workshop).
June 2018 Nara, Jeju, and Cheongju (CCEA 2015) participated in the Marine Fishery Culture Preservation Festival of Xiangshan, Ningbo.
August 2019 Mirror Image of Ningbo: China-Japan-Korea Photography Cultural Exchange Festival for Teenagers was held. Students visited historical and cultural sites of Ningbo with professional photographers and gave group presentations on the photos they took as groups.
SeptemberNovember 2020* Under the theme Naiveté, Love, Innocence, 20 college students and high school students from Ningbo, Nara, and Jeju formed mixed teams to participate in monthly online activities, including City Tourism Poster, COVID-19 and our Daily Lives, Hometown Gourmet Cooking.
AugustNovember 2021* Diverse cultural exchanges held online/offline including composing lyrics that symbolize Friendship Among Three Cultural Cities and calligraphy of Ningbo’s Four Knowledges.
  • * Due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the marked year was jointly hosted by the three cities in conjunction with Ningbo's CJK Exchange Program in Ningbo and Nara’s East Asia Cultural Creation NARA Class.
  • Chinese students participating in the 6th CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp in 2020
    (Source: Ningbo City)
  • Chinese students participating in the 7th CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp in 2021
    (Source: Ningbo City)
Programs held by Nara
〈East Asia Cultural Creation NARA Class〉
Nara is maintaining youth exchange program in collaboration with Ningbo and Jeju. The youth chosen as participants in Nara first learn cultures of CJK through lectures and learn how to introduce Nara to foreigners. Then youth from China and Korea are invited to Nara, where they spend time experiencing the culture of Nara and interacting with and understanding each other. Then the youth wishing to visit Ningbo and Jeju are given the opportunity to do so and participate in the youth exchange programs held in each region. The program held in Nara ends with a reporting session.

The program boosts mutual understanding and reinforces the positive effects of learning by allowing high school and university students in Nara to participate in the program in various steps. What is unique about this program is that it is not held on a rotational basis, but rather held in a way in which cities participate in programs held in other partner cities..

Programs in 2019
1. East Asia Gateway to Learning: Orientation (June 16), visits and workshops (July 7), and outcome reporting session (July 21)
2. CJK Youth Exchange Program in NARA (held on August 24-25, with 10 participants from Ningbo, 10 from Nara, and 10 from Jeju) was held, in which cultural exchange programs such as presentations in the form of photo, poetry, and music were delivered under the theme “The Hidden Charm of My Town” and communication programs through drama, were conducted.
3. Trip to East Asia (Participation in the Youth Exchange Program held in Ningbo on August 8-11 and in the Jeju Youth Cultural Camp on September 20-23)
4. Program Reporting Session on September 29
  • 2019 CJK Exchange Program in NARA (Source: Nara City)
Programs in 2020
Held online/offline due to spread of COVID-19 pandemic, jointly hosted by the three cities in conjunction with Ningbo's CJK Exchange Program in Ningbo and Nara’s East Asia Cultural Creation NARA Class
1. Orientation (September 21): 21 Ningbo students, 16 Nara students, and 12 Jeju students participated in an offline Kitakyushu program (college and high school students).
2. Group Workshop (September 27, October 24): Carried out workshops under the three topics of “COVID-19 AND Our Daily Lives Research”, “City Tourism Poster with Me as a Model”, “Soul Food in Our Neighborhood”, also broadcast on Skype.
3. Outcome Reporting Session (November 23): 21 Ningbo students, 16 Nara students, and 12 Jeju students participated in an offline Kitakyushu program (college and high school students).
Programs in 2021
Held online/offline
1. Orientation (August 28, hosted by Nara): 12 Ningbo students, 11 Nara students, and 10 Jeju students participated in an orientation, self-introductions, city introduction quizzes, and other online activities.
2. Group Workshop (September 11, October 30, hosted by Jeju): Participants had online discussions in small groups.
3. Music Exchange Program (September 25, hosted by Jeju): Each city wrote lyrics based on an original music piece by Jeju.
4. Nara Art Experience Tour (October 9): Participants from Nara had workshop in Saidai-ji, a famous Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan.
5. Calligraphy Exchange Program (October 23, hosted by Ningbo): Calligraphy writing experience program writing favorite Chinese characters after hearing a lecture.
6. Outcome Reporting Session (November 13, hosted by Jeju): Presentations of activities in PowerPoint format.
  • 2021 CJK Exchange Program in Nara (Source: Nara City)
Programs Held by Jeju
〈Jeju Cultural Ambassador〉
Jeju Cultural Ambassador is an educational program for youth participants of international cultural exchange programs such as CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp. It aims to develop their international competence and the understanding of Jeju’s culture. The program has been co-hosted by Jeju and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Jeju International Training Center since 2018. They have held various programs including Jeju Culture Class (held 4 times a year in Korea) and CJK Youth Culture Camp (held in and out of Korea), in which total of 40 selected students participated.

〈CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp〉
The CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp at first was held annually among Ningbo, Nara, and Jeju as one of the follow-up projects for CCEA since 2016. The camp was later enlarged to be an event for all the CJK cities in exchange relations with Jeju, with around 100 annual participants.

Past Events of the CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp

CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp
No Date Participating City
(year designated as CCEA)
Details
1st July 26-28, 2016 China: Ningbo (2016)
Japan: Nara (2016)
Korea: Jeju (2016)
A meeting with an arts and culture figure from Jeju, divided into two groups of calligraphy and photo.
2nd August 16-19, 2017 China: Ningbo
Japan: Nara
Korea: Jeju
Mentors in three areas (music, photo, and visual art) provided various programs for 50 CJK students, including field trips, discussions, workshops under the theme “stories of sustainable sea”
3rd May 9-12, 2018 China: Quanzhou (2014), Ningbo, Dalian, Shanghai
Japan: Okinawa (Nara was absent because it attended another event hosted by Jeju)
Korea: Jeju, Gwangju, (2014), and Daegu (2017)
Under the theme of “Sustainable Life and Arts through Upcycling”, three teams of CJK students created works of art (music, art, and video) with help from mentors in each field.
4th September 20-23, 2019 China: Ningbo
Japan: Nara, Yamanashi, and Saga
Korea: Jeju, Cheongju (2015)
Under the theme of “The Tales of the Earth”, four teams of CJK students (photo, music, arts, and dance) carried out eco-friendly projects such as reducing use of disposable products, eco-friendly photographic printing with sea water, and making of a model earth.
5th September 21 – November 23, 2020 China: Ningbo
Japan: Nara
Korea: Jeju
Under the theme of “A Bowl of Heart”, seven teams of 50 CJK students participated in an orientation, cultural class, group workshop, and shared the achievements made in an outcome reporting session (six online meetings)
6th August 13 – November 13, 2021 China: Ningbo
Japan: Nara
Korea: Jeju
Five teams of 34 CJK students participated in a music workshop, calligraphy workshop, networking session, and shared the achievements made in an outcome reporting session (six online meetings)
7th May–November, 2022 China: Ningbo
Japan: Nara
Korea: Jeju
  • * Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the three cities jointly hosted the event in conjunction with Ningbo's CJK Exchange Program in Ningbo and Nara's East Asia Cultural Creation NARA Class.
  • 2021 The 6th CJK Youth Culture and Arts Camp
    (Source: Jeju Special Self-Governing Province)

〈International Culture Festival in Tamna Cultural Festival〉
During the biggest cultural festival in Jeju, Tamna Cultural Festival, Jeju hosts CJK performers from various cities including past CCEA, and hosts the Visiting Cultural Experience Lessons for Children program in local elementary schools. Following a suggestion from Nara performers that participated in the event, the lesson is held annually. One elementary school in Jeju is selected every year to hold the program, including visiting performance of CJK traditional culture and arts and lessons on Chinese and Japanese cultures. Japanese cities that participated in the cultural lesson program have also incorporated the program in their own.

Students that participated in the event in 2019 gave their thoughts on the event: (1) “I really liked the dragon dance performance by the Chinese performance group and I want to travel to China” (2) “I was grateful to the Chinese person next to me for keeping the beat for me” (3) “I was happy to have done a Japanese dance myself and the high-five with the teacher of performance group was impressive” (4) “I would like to participate in other programs as well”.

Past Events

Past Events
Date Participating Regions from China and Japan
(year designated as CCEA)
2016 Nara (2016)
2017 Quanzhou (2014), Ningbo (2016), Yokohama (2014), Nara
October 2018 Quanzhou, Ningbo, Kyoto (2017), Shanghai, Hainan
October 2019 Quanzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Hainan, Aomori, Tokyo
October 2020 Quanzhou, Ningbo, Xi’an (2019), Shanghai, Nara, Yokohama, Aomori, Hokkaido – photos exhibited at COVID-19 & Humans International Photo Exchange
October 2021 Xi’an, Ningbo, Hokkaido, Aomori - videos exhibited at Performing Arts Exchange
  • ‘Visiting Cultural Experience Lessons for Children’ Peony Drawing Program Provided by Ningbo
    (Source: Jeju Special Self-Governing Province)

〈December 2021: CCEA Jeju, Ningbo, Nara Arts Festival〉
On December 27, 2021, Jeju held a special arts festival to commemorate the 5th anniversary of trilateral exchanges between Ningbo, Nara, and Jeju. The arts festival, which was hosted by the Jeju Culture and Arts Education Service, and sponsored by Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was held online under the theme of “‘Harmony of Culture That Blooms in Three Colors”. The festival showcased the newly arranged traditional music to symbolize each exchange city, in forms of various musical interpretations of classical music, folk songs, fusion traditional music, and hip-hop dance.

  • The Ningbo musicians are playing the arranged version of Jeju folk songs
    (Source: Jeju Special Self-Governing Province)