China-Israel cultural exchange

Israel's prime minister visits China this week as the two countries mark twenty years of official ties. Politics and trade will be high on the agenda during meetings but cultural and educational exchanges are also factored in.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to China is designed to deepen ties that have led to 10 billion dollars in bi-lateral trade, development and technology agreements marking China Israel's third biggest export market.

"Creating a personal relationship, a personal contact, is a vital issue when it comes to every country in the world and especially in china. So this is the first chance to sit down together, talk about what is important to Israel on the political side, economy and security side," said Ilan Maor, Vice President, Israel Asia Chamber Of Commerce.

Culture, tourism and education also factor in as important elements making up the China-Israel relationship.

"Last year Israel's tourism ministry invested half a million dollars into drawing 20,000 travelers from China. This year the ministry invested in a blockbuster film," CCTV correspondent Stephanie Freid said.

"Something here about making the film in Israel and tapping into China's tourism market," director of Israel Tourism Ministry Boaz Nir said.

Famous Chinese actors filmed on location for a week and actress Zhang Jingchu enjoyed the stay so much, she changed the venue of a scheduled diamond advertisement shoot from Paris to the Dead Sea.

Cultural exchanges include ice festival borrowed from Harbin and designed in Jerusalem by Chinese engineers

Last year Israel's top ranked museum invested 2000 hours into translating ancient texts finto Mandarin for the benefit of online browsers.

"Something here about the benefit of translating the project to Mandarin," Curator of the Israel Museum Dr. Susan Hazan said.

On the academic front, Mandarin is increasingly making its way into elementary school and university curriculum and academic exchange is on the rise.

As leaders discuss business and politics in Beijing, they'll also be strengthening ties that lead to richer relations between the two countries.