PRAGUE, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Henan province in central China, well-known for Shaolin Kungfu, held a tourism promotion event with a Martial arts show in Prague, the capital of the Czech republic on Friday.
"Henan is one of the best places to experience China's long history and rich culture," said Liu Chunyang, an official from the Henan provincial government, "We sincerely welcome Czech friends to come to Henan to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery and to understand more about Chinese history and culture."
Liu noted that four out of China's "top eight ancient capitals" are situated in Henan, which are Luoyang, Kaifeng, Anyang and Zhengzhou. Meanwhile, It's also the birthplace of world-famous Shaolin Kungfu, or Shaolin Martial Arts.
At Friday's event, practitioners from the Shaolin Temple Wushu Training Center also showcased martial arts and their skillful performance won applauses from the audience.
Liu added that a seminar on tourism will be held in the province in 2020 and he welcomed Czech tourism agencies to join.
Josef Conrad, an official of tourism department from the South Bohemia of the Czech Republic, said that the South Bohemia and Henan province have established sister province relations. The two places have many in common and he hoped there will be more cooperation in tourism in the future.
Cesky Krumlov, a beautiful town in South Bohemia, is one of the best known destinations of Chinese tourists who travel to the Czech Republic.
Both the Czech Republic and China have seen rapid development of two-way tourism in the past years. Especially the number of Chinese tourists to the Czech Republic increased rapidly.
Statistics showed that a total of 620,000 Chinese tourists visited the country in 2018, a year-on-year growth of 26 percent.
