BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — The 2nd Brunei-China Art and Visual Culture Festival opened in Brunei on Saturday, highlighting the longstanding friendship and history of cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The festival, featuring traditional martial arts, opera, calligraphy, exhibitions, lectures and more, attracted over 200 guests, including artists, scholars, officials and diplomats.

"China and Brunei are close neighbors across the sea, enjoying a long history of cultural exchanges and friendship," Chinese Ambassador to Brunei Xiao Jianguo says."Historical records indicate that the people-to-people contact between our two countries dates back to more than 1,000 years."

The festival was jointly organized by the Chinese embassy in Brunei, the foreign office of the Nanjing municipal government in Jiangsu province, and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Brunei.

Brunei is located in the northern part of Borneo island in Southeast Asia.