There was once a fish ...

After eight years collecting folk toys, Zakharova organized a Chinese Folk Toy Fair at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow in 1988. Over six weeks, the exhibition attracted more than 10,000 visitors

Zakharova remembers a message left by a boy who attended the exhibition, saying he would like to do whatever was needed to please the pot-bellied smiling grandfather of longevity. He said he liked it so much that he would be glad to take it with him wherever he went, even in class.

"Through the exhibition, Russian people get to know Chinese culture in a playful way."

The success of the exhibition encouraged Zakharova. In the following decades, she went on to publish the book My Chinese Toy, recalling each piece of toy she had collected.

"Each toy is a unique encounter," she says.

In 2005, Zakharova and her husband Vladimir Zakharov, then the deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, initiated an arts event and exhibition titled "Children Draw Fairy Tales".

The project, aimed at promoting understanding between young people in SCO countries, invited children to read fairy tales of another country and retell the tales through drawings that would be featured in the exhibition.

Over the past eight years, the project has toured a total of 18 cities in SCO member states, including Astana, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Moscow and Tashkent.

"There was a very cold evening in the winter, and I had to bring bags full of folk toys to one school. I was so cold and tired that I couldn't help asking myself why, but then before I had entered the classroom I heard the children cry out 'Oh, the Chinese folk toys are coming', and I felt so happy at the moment. They were waiting for me, for the toys.

"Children are the future, and the future of the world depends on how we foster our children."

Zakharova says the significance of the project is that such cultural exchanges help promote better understanding among children and promote a more peaceful world.

In 2008, Zakharova published her second book about China, written with her husband in a cheerful and playful tone, introducing the history, culture and folk art of China.

"Most of the previous projects would have been impossible without the support from my family. The program we organized and all the books we wrote are the common interest of my family, my husband, my daughter and me," says Zakharova, who is now a senior associate with the aesthetic education center Museyon at Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

"It is very important for a family to have a shared interest."

sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn