Chinese Film Week arrives in Australia, aims to promote China's cultural charm

The 2025 Chinese Film Week launched on Friday in Sydney, Australia, bringing with it a roster of acclaimed Chinese films that have quickly captivated local audience with culturally rich yet universally relatable stories.

During this event, jointly hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Australia and the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney, among other institutions, a diverse selection of Chinese films will be screened for a full week. The lineup includes "Ne Zha 2," "Dongji Rescue," "The Lychee Road," and "The Dumpling Queen."

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Peter Weitzel, president of the Australia-China Friendship Society New South Wales Branch, said that film is one of the most powerful mediums for cultural exchange, capable of building bridges of communication and understanding between different cultures.

Speaking to a reporter on the sidelines of the event, he further emphasized power of film in achieving meaningful communication across civilizations.

"I'm here to help launch 2025 China Film Week. I think film and cinema is a great way to promote understanding and certain knowledge about other cultures. It brings people together on a big scale. It's always nice just to talk to people one to one, but film does this very effectively and it helps shape people's understanding of reality. I recommend this Film Festival to everybody. China never disappoints," Weitzel said.

Many audience members said they delighted in watching "Ne Zha 2," a blockbuster animated film that has broken multiple box office records globally.

"I really enjoyed it. It was great that it was animated. It's important we have a lot of film weeks from different countries (and) different nationalities, and it builds understanding. Sometimes we discover there are things that are a bit different, but a lot that's really in common," said Peter Hack, a historian in Sydney.

The Chinese Film Week has previously been held in several other Australian cities, with the aim of promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Australia.

Chinese Film Week arrives in Australia, aims to promote China's cultural charm

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities' separatist moves to stoke cross-Strait hostility are unpopular and doomed to fail, said Zhang Han, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing on Wednesday.

Zhang made the comments at a regular press conference in response to a media query about recent inappropriate remarks by Chiu Chui-cheng, head of the so-called "mainland affairs council", regarding the Chinese mainland's policy of advancing high-quality cross-Strait integrated development".

"Our fellow Taiwan compatriots are our kith and kin. Over the years, acting on the principle that 'people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all of the same family', we have actively promoted cross-Strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation, deepened the integrated development across various fields, and made steady progress in implementing policies that provide equal treatment to Taiwan compatriots. These efforts have continuously yielded new results, fully demonstrating our goodwill in seeking benefits for Taiwan compatriots and our sincerity in advancing the peaceful and integrated development of cross-Strait relations. Such endeavors have been met with strong support and wide acclaim from our Taiwan compatriots. Driven by its separatist pursuit of 'Taiwan secession', the DPP authorities are deeply fearful of closer ties between people across the Strait. They have deliberately fanned the flames of confrontation and antagonism, while resorting to slander and obstruction against anything that helps develop cross-Strait relations and benefits people on both sides. Such moves are deeply unpopular and are bound to fail," she said.

DPP's moves to stoke cross-Strait hostility unpopular, doomed to fail: spokeswoman