On 26 March 2016, Professor Wang Yong of IEAS represented China to attend the opening ceremony of 2016 Culture Cities of East Asia at Todaiji Culture Centre, Nara, Japan. China's Ningbo, Japan's Nara and South Korea's Jeju were awarded the title of 2016 Culture City of East Asia in the 7^th China-Japan-South Korea Ministerial Conference on Culture held in Qingdao, Shandong, China on 20 December 2015.