Dame Jillian Sackler, who founded the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at China's Peking University with her late husband Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, speaks at the awarding ceremony of the annual Blue Cloud Award in New York, the United States, Nov. 28, 2018. Four individuals were honored the Blue Cloud Award by the New York-based China Institute Wednesday night for their efforts in promoting greater cross-cultural understanding between China and the United States. (Xinhua)

NEW YORK, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Four individuals were honored the Blue Cloud Award by the New York-based China Institute Wednesday night for their efforts in promoting greater cross-cultural understanding between China and the United States.

Howard Milstein, who came from a family prominent in business and philanthropy for four generations in the United States, received the award for his contribution to the exchange of international talent through The Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation founded in 2011.

The Milstein family helped China establish banana plantations in the south back in the 1980s, since when Milstein started to travel to China for business and gradually realized the relationship with China would be the most important one for the United States into the 21st century.

"Therefore, anything we could do to improve bilateral relations would be a good idea," he said. "So it occurred to me that working together in areas of mutual need and benefit, such as medical research, would be a good way to start."

Milstein also received the Marco Polo Award from the Chinese government in 2016, the highest honor for an international entrepreneur in China.

The only female awardee on Wednesday night was Dame Jillian Sackler, who founded the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at China's Peking University with her late husband Dr. Arthur M. Sackler 25 years ago.

The museum, which contains more than 10,000 objects and spans a period of 280,000 years, has played an important role in the field of Chinese archaeology and museology.

Other honorees included Chinese artist Liu Dan and Chinese American businessman and philanthropist John S. Long, both of whom have strengthened exchanges between China and the United States through their careers.

Under the name of "Blue Cloud," or "Qingyun" in Chinese, the award represents the traditional Chinese symbol of high virtue and status.

The China Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing understanding and deepening trust between the United States and China. The Blue Cloud Award was first introduced in 1984.