A woman performing tea ceremony at the exhibition. [Photo/Xinhua]

A seed, an academy and a movie, carrying three stories of Central China's Hunan province recently traveled across the ocean to land in the US.

"I hope you may find your interest in Hunan after I share with you the three little stories," Zhang Wenxiong, director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, said Monday at the opening ceremony for the exhibition, This is Hunan, at the UN center in New York.

"Hunan is tied with the world in many ways, and most prominently, through Yuan Longping's hybrid rice, which changed the world by providing a robust food source in areas at high risk of famine," Zhang said. He noted that Hunan is the most rice productive province in China, and it is a province that has the longest tradition of growing rice.

The second story Zhang shared starts with well-known Yuelu Academy, one of the four most prestigious academies in China, which was set up during the Song Dynasty (960-1276).

"The academy is only one aspect of how Hunan is a culture-rich province. The paper making technique originates in Hunan, the ancient anthology of Chinese poetry, The Song of Chu, was written by Quyuan in Hunan, ancient Chinese philosopher Wang Fuzhi comes from Hunan and Chairman Mao is also a Hunan local," Zhang said.