A series of cultural activities will be held to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-Sweden diplomatic ties, Dr. Borje Ljunggren, Swedish ambassador to China said in Beijing Wednesday.

The celebration will include a porcelain exhibition, the replica ship Gochtheborg's new China trip and the China premiere of Volvo Ocean Race.

According to Ljunggren, the porcelain exhibition will kick off at Beijing's Palace Museum, publicly known as the Forbidden City, at the end of September. It will showcase over 180 porcelain collections from Sweden's state-run and private museums, including pottery with colored designs from ancient China's "Yang Shao Culture" period, exquisite and refined porcelains traded on the sea in the 18th century, and precious relics including porcelains, teaware, and condiments salvaged from the sunken Gotheborg. 

Gotheborg III is a replica ship of a commercial ship bearing the same name that sunk mysteriously in 1745. This October, the ship will be launched from the Swedish port of Gothenburg, kicking off its 10-month-long voyage across vast oceans. The ship will retrace the 18th century "Silk Road on the sea" and visit Guangzhou and Shanghai. Many activities will be hosted at stopover ports along the ship's journey with its culmination at China's Guangzhou and Shanghai.

First staged in 1973, the Volvo Ocean Race Round the World is one of the three major sailboat race events in the world. No other competition asks so much of both man and equipment. Up to now, the schedule of the race event is still under discussion.

Ljunggren said Sweden and China have been making much effort to foster closer ties in political, economic, cultural and many other fields, and that those efforts have paid off. In 2003, bilateral trade volume reached US$4.17 billion. Sweden is now China's biggest trade partner in North Europe. China has surpassed Japan to become Sweden's largest market in Asia and 12th biggest trade partner.

"Further development of the Sweden-China friendship and cooperation is good not only for the two peoples, but also for common development and economic growth," he stressed.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2005)