Speaking at the ceremony, Kang said: "With a long history and rich culture, Gansu is an important birthplace of the Chinese nation and civilization. Named after the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen, the ancient Silk Road is more than 1,600 kilometers in Gansu, which is an essential part where business and culture exchanges between China and Europe were happening.

"Hosting this exhibition, we would like to show the charm of western China to the world and build a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and Germany," Kang said.

The Sino-German cooperation started more than 1,000 years ago. Located in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, Zhongshan Bridge is one of the witnesses to the friendship and cooperation between the both sides. Believed to have been built in 1906, the whole bridge used German steel frames.

In the speech, Chen Ping recalled his experience of his two trips to Gansu and mentioned that "China and Germany should conduct more friendly exchanges along the footsteps of predecessors, so that the two countries and people from both sides can have a better understanding to each other."