"The Hungarian Culture Space is authorized because of its role in promoting cultural exchange and cooperation between Hungary and China." Recently, Tianjin’s first Hungarian Culture Space was located in the "One O’clock Coffee shop" in a European-style old building in the city’s time-honored business district, Xiaobailou. Speaking of space, the Hungarian boss Tihanyi Istvan was thrilled, "Tianjin is my second hometown, and I would like to make my own contribution to the development of friendly relations between the two countries in this lovely city!"

Handsome Tihanyi earned a master's degree in environmental engineering from Tianjin University. After graduation, he decided to start a red wine business in Tianjin. In this way he can help more Chinese people to understand Hungarian culture, especially Hungarian wine.

In 2019, he organized a Hungarian red wine studio in Tianjin. “Hungarian Culture Space” is a cultural exchange project sponsored by the Embassy of Hungary in China and commissioned by the Hungarian Liszt Institute as well as the Beijing Hungarian Cultural Institute, seeking to make further contributions to promote Sino-Hungarian cultural exchange.

The "One O’clock Coffee shop" is located on Zhejiang Road in Heping District, is the second wine shop he has founded in Tianjin. The interior is filled with Hungarian culture, including a variety of wines, harnesses for rough and rustic horse, and antique oil paintings. All these decorations are quietly telling the stories of another foreign culture.

Earlier this year, President Xi Jinping responded to a letter from students at the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school urging Hungarian youth to learn more about China and be ambassadors for sino-Hungarian friendship. "I have followed President Xi's instructions and will do better in the future!" he said, "I will continue to introduce the cultures of China and Hungary to both sides and let more people to know that the cultural gap between the two countries is not very big." Tihanyi said with particular delight.

“In the future, I plan to host more cultural exchanges here. I want my winery to serve as a cultural bridge across the Belt and Road, so that more Chinese people would understand Hungary and more Hungarians would fall in love with China.”

By: Qin Mian