Govt puts culture at center of Silk Road

Inaugural expo scheduled for Dunhuang in August

The Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, to be held in Dunhuang, Gansu province, next August, originated from the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013.

Cultural communication is an important aspect of the development of the economic belt, along which Gansu plays an important part. The provincial government is committed to hosting the expo to promote mutual understanding between different cultures along the Silk Road.

Since last December, the Gansu government has closely coordinated with the ministries of information, culture, education, commerce and foreign affairs to prepare for the expo, which will include cultural exchanges and displays.

The inaugural expo will be staged in Dunhuang, which is famous for its ancient Mogao Caves and frescoes, in the west of Gansu province, on Aug 16 and 17, along with a series of high-level forums and cultural activities.

Gansu province hopes to make the expo an important international, professional and high-level cultural exchange platform for countries and regions along the Silk Road Economic Belt as well as provinces in China related to the economic belt.

The first expo will invite State leaders and officials in charge of cultural, tourism and information affairs in the countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt, representatives from UNESCO and the World Tourism Organization, ministers of relevant ministries in China, provincial governors, scholars and artists from home and abroad and businesspeople of cultural enterprises.

The main activities planned consist of a summit conference, the Silk Road Cultural Year Exhibit, a roundtable conference for Silk Road cultural heritages, a cultural tourism development forum, a digital Silk Road forum and a cultural financial cooperation forum, among which the first two are considered the most important.

The summit conference on the afternoon of Aug 16, themed "Exploiting a new path of cultural exchange and cooperation along the Silk Road", will invite governments of one or two countries along the Silk Road to be co-organizers, and will be attended by State leaders and senior officials of relevant countries, as well as representatives of international organizations.

The opening ceremony of the Silk Road Cultural Year Exhibit will be held on the morning of Aug 17, and highlight the history, culture, arts, tourism and cultural industries of participating countries and Chinese provinces and regions.

Other activities include forums, conferences and exhibits on tourism, culture, industry, trade, food, innovation and folk arts from Aug 15 through 25 in Dunhuang.

contact the writers through liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/25/2015 page7)