Forum to celebrate cultural exchanges

This year's Beijing Culture Forum, co-organized by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Beijing's Party committee and government, will be held from Sept 14 to 15 in the capital.

Organizers are hoping that the forum becomes a platform to demonstrate cultural achievements, exchange experiences,advocate for cooperation in cultural innovation and development, and promote exchanges and mutual learning.

Apart from the opening ceremony and main forum, the Beijing Culture Forum will have five parallel panels, during which experts from home and abroad will hold in-depth dialogues on cultural heritage preservation and utilization, empowering cultural development with science and technology, the relationship between literature, art and social life, the integrated development of culture and tourism, and exchanges and mutual understanding of the world's civilizations.

More than 600 central and local publicity and cultural department leaders, scholars, writers and artists, as well as foreign governmental dignitaries and heads of international organizations in the cultural field,will attend the forum, according to the organizers.

A report on China's cultural development will be released, and the top 10 major events held in Beijing last year that helped the capital strengthen its position as a cultural center will be announced at the forum.

During and around the two-day forum, cultural events will be held, including an evening gala at the Big Air Shougang - a landmark of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics - the Beijing October Literature Festival and "The Temple of Earth and Me" Beijing Autumn Book Fair.

To promote the forum, 30 renowned cultural figures will share their expertise and experiences via short videos in their own fields, including calligraphy, literature, dance and theater.

Lyu Zhou, professor at the School of Architecture and director of the National Heritage Center, Tsinghua University, said in one video that the Beijing Central Axis bears a unique, material testimony to Chinese civilization. It reflects traditional ideals and aesthetics, as well as cultural exchanges and integration.

The scholar was in charge of drafting the application text that was submitted to UNESCO in January for the Beijing Central Axis to become a world heritage site in the future.

He added that cultural heritage preservation constantly brings new ideas and perspectives, and it's important that cultural heritage comes to life in people's hearts, especially in those of younger people, which will ultimately boost cultural confidence and awareness.

Shao Tianshuai, deputy director of Beijing-based Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, recalled when she and her colleagues brought the classic Story of the Jade Pin to the Sochi Winter International Arts Festival in Russia in 2018, where it received positive, encouraging feedback from the locals.

Yu Dong, founder and chairman of Bona Film Group, said that it's important to help young audiences today learn about all kinds of people and the touching moments they see in their everyday lives through film, and to spread these stories around the world.