Friis Arne Petersen (second right), Ambassador of Denmark to China and Mongolia, helps Chinese children make Danish cookies during the Open Denmark Day at the Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing on May 31 (COURTESY OF ROYAL DANISH EMBASSY)

The Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing held the annual Open Denmark Day in order to showcase Danish culture, high quality food and Danish design to more than 4,000 Chinese guests on May 31.

The Open Denmark Day celebrates the friendship between Denmark and China and strengthens the knowledge of Denmark in China.

"I am really happy to open the Embassy's doors to the Chinese public and to give our Chinese guests a taste of Danish culture, food and design. I hope that the event will encourage more Chinese people to travel to Denmark and experience our country by themselves," said Friis Arne Petersen, Ambassador of Denmark to China and Mongolia.

The Open Denmark Day had many highlights, including a speech by the Ambassador, two lucky draws with gifts from the participating companies, a Danish ballet performance with dancers from Beijing Dance Academy, a cultural area with an H.C. Andersen exhibition as well as an exhibition on green solutions in Copenhagen, an exhibition from the Danish luxury electronics brand Bang & Olufsen as well as an fur exhibition from Danish fur auction house Kopenhagen Fur.

Throughout the entire day, the Danish "Michelin" star chef John Kofod Pedersen demonstrated famous New Nordic Cooking by making a special menu consisting of cured salmon with crispy walnuts, herbs and dressing with honey, pork terrine with pickled beets and rye bread, "Gnalling" cheese with beer and gooseberry compote and "Øllebrød" anno 2014.

The visitors were welcome to taste the delicious New Danish cuisine, as well as authentic food from Danish castles.

The Open Denmark Day also featured many cultural aspects about Denmark, including a stand informing about the upcoming Danish Cultural Season in China – "Little Fairy Tale, Big Future."

Danish cultural initiatives in China will be intensified in the autumn of 2014 and spring of 2015 with a substantial cultural programme involving a number of major cultural stakeholders in both countries. The cultural programme will include exhibitions, concerts, film festivals, literary events, symposia, performing arts and theatre, special events with a focus on design, architecture and crafts, as well as initiatives focusing on children and young people.

Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen also announced the winners for the Royal Danish Embassy's H.C. Andersen drawing contest that was held as an online competition on the Embassy's social media platforms. The Embassy has received drawings from children all across China, and the three lucky winners had a wonderful day at the Embassy, where they baked cookies with the Ambassador and received their prize from the competition – a special set of stamps commemorating H.C. Andersen.

A special promotion video featuring a Chinese family who went on vacation to Denmark was also presented at the Open Denmark Day. The video shows how easy it is to get a visa to Denmark.