prince william launched his four day visit to china today with a ceremony to bring good fortune the second in line to the throne found himself in the unusual position of having to paint the eyes on a larger than life sheep   british cartoon character shaun the sheep, no less 'you know i can't do two things at once,' he joked with the photographers who asked him to pose up with his artwork scroll down for video  prince william smiles as he paints the eyes on a shaun the sheep model during a ceremony in china  the prince is on a four day visit to china with the sheep marking ceremony signalled the launch of the first ever year of cultural exchange between the uk and china  he added approvingly: 'it's not particularly stylish but it will pass' the sheep marking ceremony signalled the launch of the first ever year of cultural exchange between the uk and china, a showcase of innovation for british goods and services in the chinese calendar this is the year of the sheep   and with aardman animation's shaun being the uk's most famous export of the species, the british council thought it might be fun to marry the two the ceremony took place in the gardens of the residence of the british ambassador, barbara woodward william was shown five sculptures of shaun, each decorated by a different artist, which are among 50 such sculptures to be displayed across china and later auctioned off in aid of the beijing cultural development fund in the chinese calendar this is the year of the sheep   and with aardman animation's shaun being the uk's most famous export of species, the british council thought it might be fun to marry the two  the prince joked with photographers who wanted him to pose and paint the eyes on the sheep, saying 'you know i can't do two things at once' the prince gamely agreed to finish decorating a particularly patriotic animal, covered in the union flag, by painting his eyes dotting the eyes of the traditional lions used in lion dances is thought to bring good fortune and happiness   and it is hoped that by william doing this he will bring such benefits to the year of cultural exchange it also ties in with the chinese idiom 'san yang kai tai',which means 'the advent of spring brings prosperity' the prince was accompanied by sajid javid, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, who said: 'we are incredibly proud of our creative industries, they are one of our biggest success stories and a tremendous driver of economic growth crowds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the second in line to the throne during a visitor to the british ambassador's official residence in beijing  prince william greets a young baby who was brought to the ceremony the duke's visit is the highest profile visit by a member of the royal family for 30 years  'the year of cultural exchange will be a wonderful celebration of uk and chinese creative talent and will help forge new business relations between our two nations ' nick marchand director of arts and creative industries at the british embassy said william was a 'fantastic ambassador' for the uk 'it's wonderful that he can be here to launch this for us,' he said earlier william visited shijia hutong, an elegantly restored courtyard house, resurrected from dilapidation two years ago with funding from the prince's foundation, set up by his father, prince charles dressed in a smart suit, the prince was greeted by matthew hu, china representative of the prince's school of traditional arts and drew ross, the china md for the prince's foundation the duke of cambridge meets with chinese children who have physical disabilities on a visit to the shija hutong in beijing  prince william is guided by matthew hu, china's representative of the prince's school of traditional arts after meeting disadvantaged children  the prince also visited bejing's forbidden city where he chatted pleasantly about the weather and remarked on what a nice day it was  today marks the first of a four day visit to china after the duke of cambridge earlier visited japan  the prince chatted pleasantly about the weather and remarked on what a nice day it was   not realising the air pollution index for beijing today is 140, nearly six times the who recommended maximum he also met with groups of disadvantaged rural children in urban beijing he chatted about the various challenges they face, and was presented with a small hand drawn picture, drawn by a 10 year old migrant child from poverty stricken henan province named wu qiuyun the picture shows a collection of little houses surrounded by foliage and prompted william to 'that will look nice in george's bedroom' he was was also introduced to zhao chen, 14, who is effectively blind and, with the assistance of his mother, learning opera singing mr zhao said: 'my dream is to go to your palace to sing opera' duke replied: 'well, you've met the right man we might be able to arrange something'
shaun the sheep second first ever year of cultural exchange china four day british uk beijing today
second in line to the throne launched his four day visit to china today  he took part in a ceremony in the capital beijing to bring good fortune  also painted eyes on model of british cartoon character, shaun the sheep  joked with photographers he couldn't multi task while posing with artwork  ceremony marks first ever year of cultural exchange between uk and china 