Do you still remember “Talking Tom”, the game that was once wildly popular in China? In January 2017, Outfit7, the Slovenian developer which has created the Talking Tom & Friends app and media franchise, was acquired by United Luck Consortium and Zhejiang Jinke for over one billion US dollars. The acquisition is regarded as another attempt for China to expand into the global internet and IT industry, and also a testament to Sino-Slovenian economic and cultural are exchanges.

“Trees, greenery, birds and flowers are everywhere, which makes me feel at home,” standing on the bank of Dongqian Lake in Ningbo, Ghija Wolf spoke of his first impressions of Ningbo. He was among a group of CEEC consular families and international friends who took part in the “Follow the Grand Canal” tour of Ningbo on April 23.

Since 2014, Ningbo has hosted the China-CEEC Tourism Week for five years, trying to establish the city as a pilot zone for China-CEEC cultural exchanges. Tourism departments’ heads and travel agents from more than ten Central and Eastern European countries come to Ningbo each year; guests from CEEC regularly visit Ningbo for the “Beautiful China, Picturesque Zhejiang” trips; and local residents from Ningbo are encouraged to travel to CEEC to learn more about the region.

As one of the top choices for China-CEEC cultural exchanges, Ningbo is as open as it can be in the fields of economy and trade, culture, science and technology, tourism, education, etc., and welcomes CEEC to set up offices in the city, establish regular exchange mechanisms, and promote the effectiveness of cooperation in various areas.

“As a Tang poet once wrote, ‘A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near’,” said Tomaz Mori, chief product officer of Gorenje, the largest producer of electrical appliances in Slovenia, who was with the “Follow the Grand Canal” tour. “I’ll come back with family to visit here again, and will also share my traveling experience, the Chinese history and culture I have learned along the way with fellow Slovenians.”