Dozens of international academics and scholars met to discuss the cultural connectivity of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) at UIC’s 2nd Interdisciplinary Forum on ‘Belt-Road Connectivity and Eurasian Integration: Meeting the Culture’, held on 27 March. They came from 15 countries and regions including Russia, the US, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China.
Discover the new continent
“The world is not equal,” stated Director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, Prof Wang Yiwei, the first keynote speaker of the forum, “with the gap between the rich and the poor.”
Prof Wang said that serious misunderstandings amongst people have become a pressing challenge. He urged the importance on improving “the mutual connectivity of the world” with the BRI through five dimensions: policy coordination, infrastructure connection, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds.
Prof Wang Yiwei speaks of the mutual connectivity of the world
“The developing countries are poor because they are not mutually connected.” According to Prof Wang, the BRI is expected to solve global problems through China’s initiatives, using the resurfacing of the Belt Road to further each country involved in their efforts towards reducing poverty.
“Demonstrating China’s willingness to shoulder global responsibilities in its rise, this initiative can well be called the second great geographical discovery in world history.”
The spread of Islam
The second keynote speech was delivered by Professor of Economics and Director of General Education at Hong Kong Baptist University, Prof A Reza Hoshmand. He addressed the audience with his talk titled “Eurasian Connection via the Silk Road: The Spread of Islam”, by firstly tracing the historical development of the Silk Road back from China’s Han Dynasty.
He then explained that the rapid spread of Islam began with a favourable taxation policy for Muslims almost 1400 years ago. Later, “Muslim influence was enhanced with the various Islamic dynasties’ approach to expand their influence through trade and faith.”
Prof A Reza Hoshmand talks about Eurasian connection via the Silk Road
“Trade expansion by the Arab merchants during the Han and Tang Dynasties opened the door for economic growth in China as well as the surrounding region,” said Prof Hoshmand, adding that the Silk Road boosted cutural exchange between China and the West.
“Whether it was the Chinese, Arabs, Greeks, Persians or the Romans, they all played a critical role in what has transformed the current state nations,” he concluded.
Asia’s cultural connectivity
The third keynote speaker took a different angle and discussed “China’s Soft Power: Culturalisation along the BRI”. Visiting Academic of Nanyang Technological University from Singapore, Prof Khun-Eng Kuah, agreed that the BRI will deepen Asia’s cultural connectivity among the various cultural groups.
Prof Kuah shared her research that the BRI is estimated to involve 4.4 billion people (approximate 62% of the world population) and create over 160,000 jobs. She also discussed the involvement of China's state-owned enterprises.
Prof Khun-Eng Kuah on “China’s Soft Power: Culturalisation along the BRI”
“BRI is redefining the global transformation and its influence through its own terms,” she added.
“In doing so, it creates ‘collaborative territorial spaces’ and cultural basins where it is not the economic, but cultural flows that will shape deep interactions and connectivity, resulting in the formation of hybridized imagined communities along shared social cultural interests.”
People-to-people interaction
The participants of the forum presented 30 insightful papers on religion, tourism, environment, health care, literature, economy, investment and more.
UIC President, Prof Ng Ching-Fai, said at his opening remarks that the BRI has been in national and world-wide discussion since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed it five years ago.
“While most countries are supportive of this initiative, a few countries might have questions on China’s intentions,” Prof Ng added. “It is important that a venue is made available to collect opinions, to clarify intentions and to evaluate the efficacy of the Belt-Road Initiative, in achieving the ultimate goal of this project.”
He also mentioned that as an international educational institution, UIC has echoed the support of the BRI for the benefit of the students by organising activities like the study tour to the Czech Republic last summer.
UIC President Prof Ng Ching-Fai presents souvenirs to the guests
UIC’s General Education Office (GEO) was the organiser of this second interdisciplinary forum. GEO Director Prof Mildred Yang explained that the participants of the forum had an open dialogue on “Meeting the Culture”, which was to “help promote further friendly exchanges amongst the higher educational institutions, and to eventually facilitate staff and student interaction in their respective careers.”
Chairperson of the forum organising committee and Associate Professor of GEO, Dr Nazrul Islam, further explained the notion of an interdisciplinary forum. “We are living in a hyper globalised world where disciplinary education is inadequate in addressing and solving complex real life challenges. An interdisciplinary education approach in academia is essential to train the next generation of leaders and builds a harmonious society.”
“This forum particularly emphasises people-to-people interaction and exchange where culture plays a vital role. I believe that through enhancing the people-to-people bond many challenges of today’s world can be overcome,” Dr Islam said.
He also revealed that the fruitful discussion and research of the second interdisciplinary forum are hoped to be published in several volumes in the future.
Reporter: Deen He
Photographers: Lowry Qu, Ben Wen
Editors: Samantha Burns, Samuel Burgess
(from MPRO)
