"China and Egypt share many cultural similarities," Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, said on Wednesday, as she praised the exquisite exhibits for fully showcasing the wisdom and unique aesthetic sensibilities of the Egyptian people.

While chatting over tea and visiting a small handicrafts exhibition in Cairo with Entissar El-Sisi, wife of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Peng said Egypt has a long history and a profound cultural heritage. She expressed the hope that artists from the two countries would strengthen exchanges and cooperation to allow traditional crafts to continue to shine with renewed vitality through inheritance and mutual learning.

Deepening people-to-people exchanges

"Known for their age-old civilizations, China and Egypt have each contributed an invaluable intellectual legacy and splendid cultural heritage to the progress of humanity." In a signed article published in Egyptian media on Tuesday ahead of his state visit to Egypt, Xi said that across time and space, the two civilizations have been reaching out to each other, writing new chapters in the everlasting friendship between the two peoples.

The China-Egypt relationship has always been an example of friendship and mutual learning. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations have continued to deepen.

From the launch of the China-Egypt joint archaeological project at the Montu Temple in Luxor in 2018 to the joint project at Saqqara in 2024, cooperation between the two countries in archaeology has advanced steadily. The 2025 exhibition "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt" at the Shanghai Museum featured 788 precious artifacts, more than 95% of which were displayed in Asia for the first time. It attracted more than 2.77 million visits.

In Egypt, there has been a Chinese language learning craze for years. The country was among the first Arab and African countries to introduce Chinese-language education. Today, 36 Egyptian universities have Chinese language departments, while 41 secondary schools in 10 provinces offer Chinese as an elective subject, according to official figures from the Chinese Embassy in Egypt.

Egypt has also long been a popular tourist destination for Chinese visitors. Chinese tourists made more than 360,000 visits to Egypt in 2025, up 20% year on year, Chinese official data shows. More than 30 direct flights operate between the two countries each week.

Mutual learning among civilizations

Peng has long been committed to promoting cultural exchanges and fostering mutual understanding and friendship among peoples. When attending an event for spouses of leaders participating in the 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Bishkek on Tuesday, she invited Kyrgyz artists to visit China for more performances and cultural exchanges so as to give Chinese audiences a closer look at the country's rich ethnic culture.

This echoes China's broader call for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. When proposing the Global Civilization Initiative in March 2023, Xi said tolerance, coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations play an irreplaceable role in advancing humanity's modernization process.

"We advocate robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation," Xi said, stressing that countries need to explore the building of a global network for inter-civilization dialogue and cooperation to promote mutual understanding and friendship among people of all countries.