Mexico opens new tourism route to promote Chinese culture

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mexico City announced Thursday it would open a new tourism route called "The China Experience" to promote Chinese culture and cuisine.

The route, offered by the city's leading tour bus operator Turibus, is built around two exhibitions currently on show at prestigious downtown museums, namely "China's National Art Museum Masterpieces" at the Museum of San Ildefonso, and "The Memory of Hands: The Splendor and Color of Guizhou's Heritage" at the National Museum of Cultures.

Unlike Turibus' previous museum circuits, The China Experience has an added culinary dimension, namely a lunch at El Dragon, a leading Chinese restaurant in the city's populous Zona Rosa district.

"This is the first time that we are going to combine the museum theme with the culinary theme," Carlos Betancourt, the coordinator of Turibus' museum circuits, told Xinhua at the route's opening ceremony.

The two exhibits, part of the celebration of the 2016 Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange, display different dimensions of the Chinese culture.

"Masterpieces" presents 151 pieces of Chinese contemporary and folk art, with an emphasis on young artists' commitment to revolutionizing traditional art forms such as ink wash painting.

"The Memory of Hands" showcases over 100 handicrafts from China's southwestern Guizhou Province, which is home to 18 of China's 55 ethnic minorities and boasts a rich cultural heritage.

The handicrafts include elaborately embroided silk garments, and the complex multi-tiered silver headdresses and necklaces normally worn by the brides of the Miao minority group.

The tour service, available every Wednesday starting Nov. 9, will last till February 2017, with a single ticket costing 600 pesos (31 U.S. dollars).