The three-day 2024 Beijing Culture Forum concluded on Saturday after bringing together more than 800 domestic and foreign representatives to share new ideas on cultural development, exchange views on new approaches for cultural development, and explore new paths for cultural exchange.
Opened Thursday, the forum has "Inheritance, Creativity, and Mutual Learning" as its permanent theme, with this year's sub-theme being "Deepening Cultural Exchange to Achieve Common Progress".
At the forum, the representatives, including experts, scholars and industry leaders, attended the opening ceremony and the activities of its main event.
"I think the organization of the forum symbolizes the openness of the Chinese people and the Chinese government to the rest of the world," said Oumar Demba Ba, chairman of the Foundation Macky Sall Paix Dialogue Development, in an interview with China Central Television on the sidelines of the forum.
Since 2022, when Beijing held the first edition of the forum, the city has been making consistent efforts to tap into its rich cultural heritage, in an effort to build itself into a globally renowned historic city.
"You learn how to make hand-pulled noodles, or small pinwheels, or Spring Festival couplets, just making these manually. I think, if we really want to popularize Beijing culture, we should not only present them to the people, but show them how to make it. Like, I can make it, for instance, paper-cutting works for window decoration," said Michael Crook, chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, said in a separate interview also on the sidelines of the event.
Apart from the main forum, the 2024 Beijing Culture Forum also included six parallel forums, over 30 professional salons, and a series of sub-level cultural events.
The forum also witnessed six characteristic travel routes of Beijing being rolled out to enhance the travel experience of both domestic and international tourists.
"A big city. It's really clean, everybody, the people are really kind, so, it's like, you know, really really fantastic experience for me," said Agata, a Polish tourist.
Representatives of Beijing Culture Forum share views on cultural communication
