BEIJING – The latest “Doraemon” movie has scored the biggest box-office revenue for animated films in China, brightening the atmosphere between the two countries as they gradually mend strained ties.

“Stand By Me Doraemon,” a three-dimensional movie, was released in theaters across China last Thursday. It was the first Japanese movie shown in China after the Japanese government effectively nationalized the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea in September 2012, touching off strong reactions among both the Chinese leadership and public.

Mahjong is nearly ubiquitous in China. The clicking of tiles is a subtle background noise that visitors might notice as they stroll the streets and parks of the country. Mahjong is not new to the world outside of China, but its rising popularity is making the game into a de-facto form of Chinese cultural diplomacy. [...] Foreign visitors took note of the game's popularity and entrepreneurs exported the game from China to the US in the 1920s.

"I had already visited the China Pavilion more than one time in the past days but I can say that today I realized the magnificence of capital Beijing," Italian visitor of the world exposition in Italy's Milan, Mauro Magni, told Xinhua on Saturday. Magni talked to Xinhua after spectating the lion dance, Peking opera, acrobatics and dances, and Chinese ballet drama Marco Polo animating the China Pavilion and other venues at the Expo Milano 2015 site.

In 1654, a Chinese monk arrived in Japan. His name was Yinyuan Longqi (1592-1673), a Zen master who claimed to have inherited the authentic dharma transmission from the Linji (Rinzai) sect in China. This claim gave him tremendous authority in China, as without it a Zen teacher cannot be considered for leading a Zen community.

China will not do business with countries that don't also offer both cultural and political relationships.

A Doraemon movie will be shown in China starting Thursday, becoming the first new Japanese film to be released in the country in nearly three years, diplomatic sources said. “Stand by Me Doraemon” is a 3-D animation film released in Japan last year. The Chinese government strictly limits the showing of foreign movies.