A Sino-Japanese painting and calligraphy exhibition is to be held in Beijing later this year. Assembling the works from China and Japan started Thursday.

Wang Jianping, director of the organizing committee, said at a press briefing in Beijing Thursday that the exhibition would open in November and assembling of the works will be finished in October.

Wang said the event would mark the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, and aimed to boost Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges.

The exhibition has aroused great interest in the Japanese Embassy in China and among noted Japanese painters and calligraphy artists, plus some Chinese artists, Wang said.

The exhibition will show nearly 1,000 works chosen from the whole collection, with those of high value going to the China History Museum.

The exhibition is being jointly sponsored by 10 organizations including the China Overseas Friendship Association, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), and the China-Japan Friendship Association.

(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2002)