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

Its founders included former Norwegian parliamentarian, representatives from the business and academic sectors who have worked for decades to build ties between the two countries.

In September of the same year, upon the invitation of NCFA, leaders from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) visited Norway. During their visit to Oslo, they were received at 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 Norway’s main political parties, established shortly after the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Norway.

Representatives from NCFA were invited to the CPAFFC Meeting for China and Foreign Countries Friendship Cities, held in Wuhan in November 2018. Furthermore, discussions were conducted in Beijing with the leadership of CPAFFC’s Cultural Exchange Department to develop the first exchange program between Norway and China under a NCFA-CPAFFC cooperation.

As a result, a concept for the exchange of young musicians between the two countries was established. In April 2019, NCFA representatives together with staff from CPAFFC’s Cultural Exchange Department, visited Xi’an Conservatory of Music to discuss details of a Music Exchange Program between music students from the Conservatory and their counterparts in Norway.

The NCFA-CPAFFC partnership led to the creation of the China-Norway Reach Out – A Music Exchange Project, which featured music students specializing in Chinese Folk Music. The group of musicians arrived in Oslo on August 19, 2019. Together with 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 program, performing in both Oslo and Trondheim.

The tour concluded with a seminar and performance alongside the Verdal Young Violinists at Stiklestad, one of Norway’s most significant cultural heritage sites. The project, known as China-Norway Reach Out 2019 was co-financed by both private and public funds from China and Norway, with its main contribution awarded by the The Norwegian Children and Youth Council.

The China-Norway Reach Out 2019 was successfully concluded in August 2019.

NCFA was recently reconstituted with new Board Members and Senior Advisors, and connections with our Chinese partners have been rekindled.

From August 30 to September 2, 2023, NCFA hosted leaders from CPAFFC in Beijing, along with a delegation from Anyang Municipality and the Museum of Historical Writing. The delegation participated in the 40th anniversary celebration of the Norwegian Taiji Center in Oslo, where they presented an exhibition and lecture on Chinese Characters and Civilization.