A total of 2,209 people from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan participated in cross-Strait cultural exchange activities in the first half of 2007, according to the Ministry of Culture.

The ministry approved 200 cultural exchange programs involving 1,319 mainlanders and 890 Taiwan people between January and June, latest statistics show.

These programs, including a cross-Strait culture and art management forum and several large evening parties, greatly promoted cultural understanding between the two sides, said an official of the ministry.

Seventy musicians of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, 44 members of the No. 2 Henan Opera Troupe and 76 actors of the National Peking Opera Theatre were invited to Taiwan in the first half of 2007 for cultural exchange activities.

The mainland-based Chinese Culture Association invited a group of 14Taiwan specialists of cultural administration to the mainland and sent 24 mainland scholars of the field to the island.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2007)