BEIJING - With a performance by Memphis-born street dancer Charles "Lil' Buck" Riley and a piece of ancient Mongolian folk music rendered by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the four-day US-China Forum on Arts and Culture kicked off on Thursday at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

Until Saturday, 20 notable cultural figures, from China and the US, will discuss filmmaking, acting, painting, music and writing in Beijing.

Cellist Ma will play traditional Chinese instruments, accompanying Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep during her reading on Friday. On the last day of the forum, Streep will also host a screening of her latest film, a Margaret Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady. Other participants include the writer Michael Pollan, the dancer and producer Damian Woetzel, documentary photographer Susan Meiselas and the opera director Peter Sellars, among others.

"For me, culture and arts are about imagination. We use all of our senses to think, dream and taste, which is the same in every culture," says the cellist Ma. "This forum is a good start to enrich the understanding between the two countries. It helps reduce misunderstanding. We've planted the seed today and I hope it will grow fast."

The musician also noted that his Silk Road Project - exploration of the cultures that flourished along the ancient trade route that for centuries connected Europe and the East - has been greatly influenced by Chinese culture and well received in the West. The project also has seen collaborations with artists such as Charles "Lil' Buck" Riley and Damian Woetzel.

"We hope this is the first of many annual events of this type, alternating between China and the United States," said the US freshly minted ambassador to China, Gary Locke, at the opening ceremony. He expressed hope that exchanges like this one will display the openness and spontaneity of American culture. There are also plans for a reciprocal visit in 2012.

For the Chinese artists this is a rare chance to exchange views with some of the most influential cultural icons of the United States, working in similar fields.

"We have been looking at and imitating US cultures for decades, from music, fashion to eating habits. But we are much more creative and focusing on individualism in the field of arts. The communication between the two cultures is necessary," said Wu Tong, a Chinese crossover musician who is a long-time friend of Ma.

Wu, with a traditional music learning background since childhood, is also the founder of the pioneering rock band Lunhui, or Again. He will join Ma and other US musicians to perform a Yunnan folk song, Flowing River, at the concert, Musical Dialogue, on Friday as a part of the forum.

Renowned Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong is going to join in a discussion titled The Arts and the Marketplace, with another Chinese artist Xu Bin and US artists Eric Fischl and Judith Belzer. The internationally acclaimed artist says that the forum will help the US to further understand the Chinese artists and their works.

"We grew up in different social backgrounds, which led to our different interpretation of the arts. By exchanging views with the great American artists, we can tell them the stories behind our works and so do they," says Liu. "China is so different nowadays and as artists, we have the unique language to communicate with the outside world. It offers a comfort zone for both of us."

"This forum is not an average cultural exchange event. We have the great cultural icons from two countries to share and learn from each other," says Li Xiaolin, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

According to Li, cultural exchanges have played an important role in the establishment of the Sino-US diplomatic relationship.

In April 1971, China invited the US Table Tennis Delegation that was in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship to China. This was a significant step made by China to recover Sino-US contact and was commended as Ping-Pong Diplomacy.

Between November 1972 and January 1973, the China Shenyang Acrobatic Delegation paid a performance visit to the US on invitation, which was the first time China brought artistic talents to the US. In return, the US Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra visited China in 1973.

Li said that in the context of rapid globalization, developing a mutual understanding between the two cultures was of crucial importance.