BEIJING, April 3 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping recently wrote back to representatives of well-known Arab artists who participated in the "Silk Road Artists' Rendezvous" visit to China, encouraging them to create more artworks that reflect China-Arab friendship and make new contributions to enhancing friendship between their people.

Culture can connect hearts, and art can interlink the world, Xi said in the letter, noting that from the opening of the ancient Silk Road to the Belt and Road cooperation, exchanges between Chinese and Arab civilizations have spanned thousands of years with mutual appreciation, writing a historical legacy of mutual learning.

Xi said that at the first China-Arab States Summit held at the end of last year, China and Arab states agreed to make all-out efforts to build a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era.

The China-Arab relations are now at a new historical starting point, Xi noted, voicing his hope that more Arab artists will visit China and create with exquisite skills more artworks that can promote China-Arab cultural exchanges.

Xi also hoped that they can share their experiences and insights in China so that more Arab friends can feel and get to know China, and work with the Chinese people to write a new chapter of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Arab civilizations in the new era.

Over 50 famous Arab artists who participated in the "Silk Road Artists' Rendezvous" event recently sent a joint letter to Xi to share their gains and inspirations from their China tours over the past 10-plus years, hoping to make contributions to promoting the mutual understanding between the Chinese and Arab people.

So far, over 100 artists from 22 Arab countries have participated in the event, and created 487 artworks in the form of painting, sculpture and ceramic art.