Chinese and Australian artists are showing their works in an exhibition called "Midway", which started its first leg of tour?in Beijing on April 15.

At a reception held in celebration of the art exhibition in Beijing April 16, Geoff Raby, Australian Ambassador to China noted that the exhibition was "a very significant collection of work" and it would further deepen people's understanding of the very close links of visual arts and culture between Australia and China.

Raby said, "This exhibition is a timely and worthy example of the unique depth of relationships that exist between the Australian and Chinese art worlds," adding that these are relationships that go back many decades to when the first Chinese artists traveled to Australia and opened up the passages for significant cultural exchanges.

"The bilateral relationship between Australia and China is excellent. The cultural exchange is becoming broader and more active all the time. So actually we have seen a general strengthening of the relationship in this area," he said.

According to Jin Sha, the curator of the exhibition and secretary-general of the Beijing Art Institute of Chinese Fine Arts Painting, the "Midway" exhibition is a collection of 62 pieces of works from 15 Chinese and Australian contemporary artists.

As to the artists, five are Chinese nationals living and working in China, five are Chinese-born artists living and working in Australia, and the other five identify themselves as Australian artists whose work has been closely influenced by Chinese culture. They use their own artistic techniques to expound the numerous impacts that globalization has on people's life and psyche.

Jin said that in recent years, relations between China and Australia have never been so good.

"The cultural and artistic exchanges and contacts between the two countries are playing an increasingly important role."

Following its tour of four cities in China, Beijing, Tianjin, Xiamen and Shanghai, the exhibition will tour to fourteen Australian regional venues, commencing at the city gallery of Wollongong, a coastal town of New South Wales state, in October 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2009)