China and Russia have enjoyed strong diplomatic ties for many years, but they're also keen on bridging the cultural gap between the two nations, and between their children in particular.

A cute panda and a jumping rabbit – two of the most famous animation figures to come out of China and Russia respectively, will now be appearing in the same show.

The series called Panda and Happy Ball will be co-produced by China’s CCTV Animation and Russia’s RIki Group.

“This animation series will be on air in both China and Russia. In one year, children in both countries can watch it on their televisions," Cai Zhijun, Managing Director of CCTV Animation said. "We hope to present a world-class animation series, not only for Chinese and Russian children but also for kids across the world.”

China’s vice-premier Liu Yandong, along with her Russian counterpart Olga Golodets, attended a ceremony in Guangzhou. And Liu talked about her hopes for the series: “China and Russia have made remarkable achievements on humanities cooperation, which is an excellent example of civilization dialogues between great powers. And I hope this animation can be a bridge that could help peoples of the two countries understand each other.”

This is the first time China and Russia coordinated on such a project. Ilya Popov, general producer of Riki Group and also the president of Russian Animation Association, told CGTN that he hoped their favorite cartoon characters can also make a big impression on Chinese kids.

This animation is just among the many things that the two countries are going to work on together.  During the 18th session of China-Russia Committee on Humanities Cooperation held in China’s southern city Guangzhou on Sept 12, education cooperation tops the agenda.

During the China-Russia Education Strategic Dialogue, experts compared the countries' education systems and looked at ways they could benefit from each other.

Yaroslav Kouzminov, Chancellor of the Higher School of Economics, National Research University of Russia said that China and Russia “should find the solutions together, because they have lots of similarities in education system. And we’re both facing the growing inequities in our education systems.”

As part of the cooperation, a university co-founded by Russia’s Moscow University and China’s Beijing University of Technology has held its opening ceremony on Wednesday in China’s Silicon valley – Shenzhen.‍