Preface
My study of international cultural exchanges generally involves the study of a country’s soft power,which is closely related to the country’s power and strength in discourse and agenda-setting.For a long time,China has possessed weak discourse power over the world,especially in the field ofsocial sciences.Many concepts being talked about here are from Western countries.For example,“Soft Power”,a universal concept now,was first proposed byJoseph Nye from the Harvard’s Kennedy School ofGovernment.The good news,however,is that some Chinese concepts and initiatives are emerging gradually with huge international influence.A good example is the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI),which has almost become a trending phrase now.This Chinese initiative has won great attention and huge response from the international community.
It is well known that the BRI is derived from the Silk Road,opened up by Chinese missions led by Zhang Qian.It’s amazing that after more than two millennia,this road still plays an important role today and starts to cover more areas.I once visited South Korea and Uzbekistan in one business trip and found both countries have connections to the BRI.In South Korea,I attended the Silk Road Cultural Festival,the event of Gyeongju World Culture Expo.All participants in the festival were BRI-related countries.In the exhibition hall,the booth of Xi’an,the starting city of the Silk Road,was placed in the center.During the festival,some undergraduate summer camps themed on the Silk Road were held in Gyeongju park.This BRI-related culture expo is highly valued by the government of South Korea,and the president attended every opening ceremony.
After my visit to South Korea,I went to Samarkand,the second largest city in Uzbekistan.Previously,I had been to the city as I was invited to be the chairman of the international jury of Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival.Not long before I finished the visit,I heard the story that the Chinainvented paper-making technique was first introduced to Samarkand and then spread to Europe.Back then,the Tang dynasty and the emerging Abbasid Caliphate vied for control over Central Asia,causing the breakout of the rarely mentioned Battle of Talas.The war ended up with the Tang dynasty’s rout and the Arabs captured Chinese prisoners and brought them back to Samarkand along the Silk Road.Among those prisoners,some were skilled paper-making craftsmen,from whom the Arabs learned how to make paper.The paper-making technology found its new roots in Samarkand and was eventually spread to Europe and across the world.Today the original papermaking workshop is still preserved in the ancient city of Samarkand.It wasjust before I was leaving the city when I heard this story,so there was not enough time to visit there.This time I paid a special visit to the historical paper-making workshop.
Starting from two millennia ago,the Silk Road has benefited numerous people and cities beyond time and space.Inherited the Silk Road spirit,the BRI extends it in all aspects and promotes cross-cultural exchanges cross borders and different geographical environment.In fact,the BRI is being practised and received as a cross-cultural event.
The Silk Road derives its name from the trade in silk,a luxury commodity at that time,embedded with the skills of textile,craft,fashion and fine arts,etc.Many other goods were also exchanged along the road.Chinese porcelain,another top-selling item at the same time,won great reputation as well.Silk clothes and Chinese porcelain were popular and became a showcase for social status among heads of state and dignitaries from countries along the 7,000kilometer road.Meanwhile,foreign foods were introduced to China through the Silk Road as well,such as grape,walnut,carrot,pepper,broad bean,spinach,cucumber,pomegranate,etc.Exotic musical instruments such as Huqin,Pipa,Daruan and Sanxian,have gradually become traditional Chinese national instruments.Though opened as a route to facilitate foreign trades,the Silk Road actually promoted extensive cross-cultural exchanges.Apart from commodities and goods,the exchanges covered various fields,including language,writing,technology,art,institution,religion,education,and eventually ideology.As a matter of fact,when Zhang Qian arrived in Central Asia,he was surprised to find that Chinese silk and porcelain had already been traded for many years.Businessmen always took the lead in advancing communications among countries.They brought with them the values and customs of their home countries as well as the products.Every business transaction contributed to the exchanges and connections between different cultures,this is the cultural significance of the ancient Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.It is on the basis of the people-to-people exchange that makes the cross-border and cross-culture connection continue to the present day.
Culture can be regarded as the life and soul of a nation.The nation is the carrier of its culture.These two cannot be separated.In fact,the essence of human beings’survival and development lies in cultural coexistence for mutual prosperity.Coexistence means different cultures are equally valued,along with their economy and other fields.On the opposite side of cultural coexistence is cultural difference,which means cultures are different but complement with each other.Coexistence lays the foundation for bridging differences,while differences become the motivation to further promote cultural communication and exchange.Culture can be defined from many different perspectives,and I think culture can be briefly defined as a way of life,the pursuit of value,and an expression of emotions and feelings.Therefore,cultural communication is reflected not only in trade but also in the exchange of lifestyles,which will in turn bring in innovative ideas and more inclusive thoughts.
When silk emerged as an exquisite and dazzling item,this exotic fabric must have influenced the fashion,consumption,aesthetics and other aspects of people’s life.According to the records,silk was once the heated product that the Romans fanatically pursued.Its market price even skyrocketed to 12-tael gold per pound.Despite the high cost,Roman girls liked clothes made with silk best,and loved to wander in the streets wearing silk clothes.The scene of the girls wearing silk clothes and walking in the streets must be eye-catching,but it provoked panic from the Roman Senate.The senators exclaimed that those debauched girls ignored the fact that other people can see their bodies through the thin silk dresses.Such remarks reminded me of the popularity of polyester(commonly known as Dacron)shirts in the early 1970s.This newly invented cloth is very transparent.Because of wearing a Dacron shirt,a girl in our community was judged that she had immoral ideas,causing her to be summoned for meeting and get a verbal warning from the district leader.When I was the director of Oriental Television,the most difficult thing was to regulate the hairstyle and costume of actors who were going to appear on TV or perform at the concert.The regulations were very strict at that time:male performers with braids and earrings were not allowed on TV,because that kind of looking would be regarded as being indecent and self-indulgent,not to mention punk-style outfit.The trade and cross-cultural communication through the Silk Road bring new ideas and fashions from one country to another,thus promote exchanges of languages,religions,institutions,ideologies,ideas and ultimately lifestyles.Mutual and multiple benefits are thus the result.
Last August in Nara,I visited Tōshōdai-ji.This temple,with the architectural style of the glorious period of the Tang dynasty,was founded by Chinese monkJianzhen.It is the main temple of Ritsu school of Buddhism in Japan,and is praised as the national treasure ofJapan.Jianzhen,an eminent monk in the Tang dynasty,propagated Buddhism and founded Ritsu Buddhism in Japan.Upon his determination to preach in Japan,he suffered five failed attempts to cross the sea and finally reached the country in the sixth voyage at the age of 66.In the journeys spanning over 12 years,36 of his companions lost their lives,over 200 monks quitted,and Jianzhen himself lost his eyesight.In the seventh year of Tenpyō-hōji(763),he passed away at the age of 76.His body was cremated and buried in the pine forest at the northeast corner of the temple.To memorize him,a dry-lacquer statue of him made by his disciples before his death is worshiped in the Goei-do Hall of the temple.This statue is also regarded as a national treasure ofJapan.
Today,we still need as many people as possible with insight and determination like Jianzhen to work tirelessly to promote cross-cultural and cross-regional exchanges.Tsung Yeh,a Chinese-American musician,serving as Music Director of Singapore Chinese Orchestra,has been working in Singapore for long time and become a member of the think tank in the cultural field of the country.I met him in a trip to Singapore at the beginning of the 21 st century.With his help,I invited the famous Singapore Chinese Orchestra to perform at Shanghai International Arts Festival.Conductor Chen Zuohuang,now Music Director ofNational Center for the Performance Arts,once was the principal conductor of Unam Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico City,and I was fortunate enough to have him as my“driver”when I was in Mexico.Thanks to his effort,we arranged a Mexican Culture Week at Shanghai International Arts Festival.Numerous citizen cultural ambassadors like them work hard to advance cultural exchanges along the Silk Road.In the same vein,I appreciate the biennial Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival in Samarkand,Uzbekistan.In the year when I was the chairman of the international jury,the festival attracted 47 countries.Two years later,when I attended it again,60 countries joined it and all the programs were full of strong and distinctive ethnic styles.This music festival is indeed a feast of different cultures.
To conclude,the BRI is an advocacy not only for economic cooperation,but also cultural cohesion and exchange.The BRI was proposed when cultural exchange and cooperation among countries and cities were flourishing.The wave of urbanization has spread from the developed countries to the developing countries.Cultural exchange and cooperation between BRI-involving cities are flourishing and gaining the central attention.In this context,Ministry of Culture organized research projects on cultural exchange and cooperation system between BRI-involving cities,and appointed the National Base for International Cultural Exchange and Research(NBICER)to conduct the research.As the Director of the NBICER,I took the lead in the project and invited some research fellows and associate research fellows from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences(SASS)to work together.During the process,I was in hospital for three months,which delayed the conclusion of the project for almost half a year.After finishing the project,I delivered a speech on parts of the research findings at the forum of Tongji University,and published an article in Thinker,a special section of Jiefang Daily which focuses on academic thinking.Some parts of the research report were also published as a sub-report of Annual Report on Cultural Communication Development of Shanghai (2019).Now Shanghai Acedemy of Social Sciences Press is going to publish the full report.It is my sincere hope that this book could contribute to the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.
May 2020