Five northern places agree to have exchanges

BEIJING - Representatives of five places in North China signed an agreement on Tuesday to form a cultural agreement that will bring together those who work in the book, film, drama and Internet industries.

The representatives, who came from Beijing and Tianjin, Hebei and Shanxi provinces, and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, also said they will try to encourage residents of those places to communicate about culture and promote opportunities for cultural enterprises, according to the agreement.

"The five places, especially Beijing and Tianjin, have a better economic base to support the development of culture," Cheng Qisheng, director of the Tianjin Committee of the Communist Party of China's publicity department, said at the signing ceremony.

"So it's the right time for the five authorities to reach an agreement today to set a good example for cooperation in cultural communication in the country."

Wu Lan, director of the Party's publicity department of Inner Mongolia, echoed Cheng's words. She said the agreement will be a means for members of the ethnic groups who live in the autonomous region's grasslands to broaden their cultural horizons and also as a way to enable them to spread their "grassland culture".

Besides the culture alliance, the five governments also plan to hold art festivals and promote tourism. And they hope to offer various types of cultural services to residents and enterprises.