Mehmed Ozkan, rector of Bogazici University, addresses the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 8, 2018. A photo exhibition was held on Friday at Istanbul's Bogazici University to showcase the achievements made by the Chinese city of Shanghai in its reform and opening up over the past 40 years. (Xinhua/He Canling)

ISTANBUL, June 8 (Xinhua) -- A photo exhibition was held on Friday at Istanbul's Bogazici University to showcase the achievements made by the Chinese city of Shanghai in its reform and opening up over the past 40 years.

A total of 78 photos were on display, highlighting the progress made by Shanghai, China's top economic center, in the fields of urban construction, culture, education, technology and economy.

Shanghai was twinned with Istanbul as sister cities in 1989, while Bogazici University co-established a Confucius Institute with Shanghai University in 2008, as part of the cooperation between the two cities.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition, Mehmed Ozkan, rector of Bogazici University, said that the exhibition shows how successful the Chinese city has been in implementing the policy of reform and opening up in the past four decades.

He said his university did not select Shanghai by coincidence, because the city was known as a gateway of China to the rest of the world.

Jin Donghan, president of Shanghai University, highly spoke of the joint researches, exchanges of students and faculty, and many other activities in the field of language teaching and cultural exchange carried out through the Confucius Institute in the last decade.

Ying Yong, mayor of Shanghai who is on a visit to Turkey, Huseyin Eren, adviser to the Istanbul mayor, and Chinese Consul General in Istanbul Cui Wei also attended the opening ceremony.