Danish queen visits Andersen fairy tale exhibition

Queen of Denmark Margrethe II visited an exhibition on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales in Beijing on Friday, accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping's wife, Peng Liyuan.

The exhibition includes information on translators who introduced the Danish author's fairy tales to the Chinese, as well as books, stage photos, paintings and clothing related to Andersen's works. Andersen's fairy tales are widely known in China.

Peng and the queen watched children assemble toys and make paper-cutting designs with fairy tale themes.

They also read selections of Andersen's well-known tale "The Ugly Duckling" to the children, and watched a short stage play adapted from the tale "It's Quite True."

Peng said good fairy tales are a positive influence on the children. She said she hoped China and Denmark could further strengthen exchanges.

Queen Margrethe II echoed Peng, saying she enjoyed her time with the children and hoped more Chinese children could enjoy Andersen's fairy tales.

A Danish cultural season will be held in China later this year. Torben G. Jeppesen, director of the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense, the author's hometown, told Xinhua that the exhibition is also an event to mark the 100th anniversary of the first Chinese translation of "The Emperor's New Clothes," the first of Andersen's tales to be translated into Chinese.

The exhibition will reopen, along with new exhibits, in Beijing this September, and then travel to other Chinese cities, including Xi'an, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and maybe Chengdu, he said.

Queen Margrethe II is paying a state visit to China from Thursday to Monday at Xi's invitation. It is her second trip to China as queen. In September 1979, she became the first Western head of state to visit China after the country adopted its reform and opening-up policy.