Witness of China-Japan relationship
Tu Shangbiao, the curator of the archives of Wuhan University, introduced the media to the history of the cherry blossoms on campus and explained how the university has witnessed the relationship between China and Japan for the past seven decades.
Before 1939, there were no cherry trees on the Wuhan University campus. Later, the Japanese invaders brought cherry trees from Japan and planted more than 20 of them along the road, which is now called Cherry Avenue.
Because the trees typically live about 50 years, the first ones are no longer seen on campus.
In the 1970s, after the official establishment diplomatic relations between China and Japan, authorities planted 20 cherry trees at Wuhan University, which Japanese authorities gave to Zhou Enlai, the first premier of the People's Republic of China as a symbol of friendship.
