Chinese artist Yuan Xikun received the Pro Cultura Hungarica award on Nov 8 at the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in Beijing.

Hungarian Ambassador to China Sandor Zoltan Kusai said, "Yuan has shown great respect to the Hungarian culture. We bestow our highest cultural prize upon him in return of his friendliness to the Hungarian people."

Kusai, along with Dr Biro Marcell, the state secretary of the Ministry of Justice of Hungary, and Chen Li, the deputy director general of the Department of European Affairs for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the ceremony.

Yuan is the first Chinese person to receive the award, which is the highest cultural prize of Hungary.

In April 2011, Yuan donated his work "Hand of the Genius" to the Hungarian embassy in China to honor the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt, a well-known Hungarian pianist and composer.

Yuan expressed his gratitude and said that he will continue contributing to cultural exchange between China and Hungary.

Participants sang the "Liszt Ferenc Chorus" to mark the end of the award ceremony.

Video: Sun Tianyuan (Intern)

Voiceover: Chris Clark

Producer: Flora Yue