Our History

The Norwegian Chinese Friendship Association (NCFA) was established in February of 2018 with a mission to strengthen activities for developing people-to-people relations between Norway and China.

The founders included former Norwegian parliamentarian and representatives from the business and academic sectors having worked with relationship building between Norway and China over many decades. In September same year, upon invitation from NCFA, leaders from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) visited Norway. On occasion of their visit to Oslo, they where received in the Norwegian Parliament by Mr. Kent Gudmundsen (H) – then Chairman of the newly formed Norwegian Inter-Parliamentarian China Contact Group (IPCCG)- an informal group representing the main political parties of Norway – established just after the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Norway.

Representative from NCFA were invited to the CPAFFC meeting for China and Foreign Countries Friendship Cities that took place in Wuhan November 2018. Furthermore, discussion were held in Beijing with the leadership of the Cultural Exchange Department of CPAFFC developing the first exchange program between Norway and China under a NCFA-CPAFFC cooperation.

A concept for exchange of young musicians between our countries was decided upon and in April 2019, NCFA representative together with staff of the CPAFFC Cultural Exchange Department visited Xi’an Conservatory of Music to discuss details for the development of a Music Exchange Program between music students from the Conservatory and music students of Norway.

The NCFA/CPAFFC partnership created what became known as the China Norway Reach Out – A Music Exchange Project which included music students specializing in Chinese Folk Music Instruments from the Xi’an Conservatory of Music. The group of musicians arrived in Oslo on the 19th of August 2019. Together with music students from the Norwegian Academy of Music (Norges Musikkhøgskole) and the Department of Music at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, they developed a 90-minute joint concert presentation giving performances in Oslo and Trondheim.

The tour concluded with a seminar and performance together with the Verdal Young Violinists at Stiklestad – Norway’s important national cultural heritage center. The project which became known as China Norway Reach Out 2019 was co-financed jointly from private and public funds in China and Norway with the main contribution awarded to the project by the Norwegian National Council for Children and Youth. The China Norway Reach Out 2019 was successfully concluded in August 2019.

In addition to our music exchange initiatives, NCFA has been instrumental in developing an exchange program for Norwegian High Schools students through a cooperation developed between Maodun High School in Tongxiang, China, a boarding school with 4,000 students. Tongxiang is a “small” city with about 600,000 inhabitants.

Read more about this opportunity here (in Norwegian only)

NCFA was recently reconstituted with new Board Members and Senior Advisors and contacts have been rekindled with our Chinese partners. From August 30 to September 2, 2023, NCFA hosted leaders from CPAFFC from Beijing together with a delegation from Anyang Municipality and the Museum of Historical Writing. The delegation participated in the 40 years anniversary celebration of the Norwegian Taiji Center in Oslo and presented an exhibition and lecture on Chinese Characters and Civilization.