China International Culture Association (CICA), established on July 3, 1986, is a nationwide non-profit social organization dedicated to people-to-people cultural exchanges and cooperation under the guidance and support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China. By developing cultural exchange and cooperating with other countries, CICA strives to reach its goal: to help bring about a flourishing culture for mankind and to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese people and people around the world.

Under the guidance and support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, upholding its purpose, the association planned and held a series of colorful folk cultural exchange projects covering the fields of performing arts, visual arts, personnel exchanges, academic seminars, digital culture and new media communication. Since its establishment, the CICA insisted on promoting people-to-people bonds through cultural exchanges and continued to build exchange brand projects for academics, cultural circles, foreigners and young people, including the Oriental Cultural Research Program, the International Exchange Project for Chinese Talents of Arts Creation and Arts Management, the China Cultural Volunteers, the China Young Artists Project, the Oriental Express, the Chinese Culture Summer Camp, the Visiting China with Young Culture Messengers, the China International Youth Arts Festival and so on. These projects and groups promote the continuous deepening of non-governmental cultural exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries, and have been widely praised by people in all walks of life.

In the academic field- the CICA uses its own advantages to promote academic exchanges and ideological dialogues between China and foreign countries. The "Oriental Culture Research Program" combines “go out” and “invite in”, and invites international outstanding scholars to visit China by holding seminars and forums, conducting academic exchanges and cross-cultural dialogues, etc., and provides domestic outstanding scholars with opportunities for overseas exchanges and platform. Since 2013, the association has organized more than 30 Chinese and foreign scholars to exchange visits, and held over 10 seminars, symposiums and forums to promote mutual learning and equal dialogue. In addition, the association also sponsors the publication of 48 various literary, artistic and academic works about China abroad.

For foreigners-to meet the needs of foreign people in order to help them understand and learn Chinese cultural knowledge, the CICA launched the project China Cultural Volunteers in 2012, and selected professionals in the fields of calligraphy, art, drama, music, dance, folk literature and art as cultural volunteers to teach knowledge and skills related to Chinese culture abroad and filled the gap in the overseas service of cultural volunteers.

For the cultural world-to cultivate a team of high-quality, complex and internationally-minded art majors and management talents, the CICA held the International Exchange Project for Chinese Talents of Arts Creation and Arts Management from 2013 to 2019, inviting Chinese and foreign experts alike to hold 17 master classes for 1,589 cultural practitioners. On the basis of domestic training, the CICA selects and sends more than 20 backbones from domestic art institutions to foreign first-class art organizations every year to carry out immersion practice exchanges for 1 to 3 months, and published three reports titled Achievements of International Exchange Project for Chinese Talents of Arts Creation and Arts Management, sharing the results of exchange from the experiences.

For teenagers-the CICA actively promotes cultural exchanges between Chinese and foreign youths, and takes the China International Youth Arts Festival, the Chinese Culture Summer Camp, the China Young Artists Project, the Oriental Express and the Visiting China with Young Culture Messengers and other brand projects as the starting point to promote Chinese and foreign youths’ cultural exchange and achieve common progress.

Among the projects, the China Young Artist Project implemented in 2011 supported and cultivated more than 400 young Chinese artists of the new generation, created opportunities for them to hold exhibitions at home and abroad, and selected outstanding artists to go abroad for residency and creation. For example, the Oriental Express provides sponsorships for young musicians with outstanding artistic attainments and certain development potential to perform abroad. They’ve also created the Chinese Culture Summer Camp and 14 national youth activity centers. The centers, in cooperation with relevant foreign schools, build a bridge for Chinese and foreign youth exchanges through a variety of summer cultural exchanges and Chinese cultural experience activities. Founded in 2008, the China International Youth Arts Festival has been held 11 times, which invited tens of thousands of young artists from over 30 countries to China for cultural exchanges.

In addition to the above projects, the CICA organized a series of cultural exchange activities to promote people-to-people bonds and serve the overall situation of national diplomacy from 1993 to 2015.

The CICA pays attention to strengthening the connection with member units, takes the brand project as the starting point, builds the cooperation platform, establishes the information communication channel, intensively cultivates and forms a joint force. At the same time, the association established long-term cooperative partnerships with a number of foreign organizations, and maintained regular and institutionalized communication and exchanges. The association signed a cooperation agreement with the Portuguese Oriental Foundation for 22 consecutive years to jointly organize cultural activities; for 8 consecutive years, the association has cooperated with the Verde-China Friendship Association to hold the "Happy Chinese New Year - Cape Verde Chinese Culture Week"; They also have cooperated with the Beverly Hills Tourism Office to hold the "Happy Chinese New Year - Charming Beijing" and "Charming Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei" activities in Los Angeles.

The association will base itself on the new development stage, implement new development concepts, continue to reform and innovate, explore new ways to enhance cultural exchanges, continue to play a leading role and promote the active participation of all sectors of society in cultural exchanges and cooperation. The CICA will go on promoting people-to-people bonds and building a community with a shared future for mankind.