Chairman ZHU Minyang meeting with President LI Ruohong

On July 4th, ZHU Minyang, Chairman of World Historic and Cultural Canal Cities Cooperation Organization (WCCO), met the delegation headed by Dr. LI Ruohong, President of China World Peace Foundation (CWPF) in the city of Yangzhou. Both sides held talks on how to cooperate on the project of UNESCO’s Silk Roads interactive cultural atlas. 

According to Dr. LI, an expert meeting co-organized by UNESCO and CWPF was convened this past June on Silk Roads interactive cultural atlas. Sixty scholars and practitioners from the five continents specializing in history, culture, linguistics, custom, anthropology and heritage protection gathered together and held in-depth and fruitful exchanges on how to present the content of the atlas in an attractive and user-friendly way. A consensus was reached at the end of the meeting to define the scope, structure, theme and objective of the atlas. All participants agreed that specific topics or entry points can be incorporated into the project such as: science, technology and know-how, pharmacology and medicine, costumes and clothing, religion and spirituality, mythology and fantasy, languages and literature, arts and music, rituals and celebrations and food and gastronomy. It was also agreed that latest technologies such as 3D, VR and AI shall be applied into the cultural atlas. 

Chairman ZHU showed great support and intention to be involved in the above-mentioned project. He believed that both the UNESCO’s Silk Roads cultural atlas and WCCO’s Canal Urban Cooperation are drivers for the Belt and Road Initiative. The platform both sides build and the cooperation between each other will promote the coordinated development among countries, regions and cities. Yangzhou, where the Secretariat of WCCO is based, would like to build a pilot zone to showcase the section of tourism within the framework of Silk Roads interactive cultural atlas, in an effort to give the project a boost.

Regarding co-building a cooperation platform, WCCO would like to foster cooperation with CWPF in the following four areas: firstly, to scale up economic development of world canal cities under the Belt and Road Initiative and make preparations for 2017 World Canal Cities Forum; secondly, to form an old town alliance with the concept of tourism plus culture and old town plus internet so as to drive the development of world canal cities; thirdly, to set up a special public fund for WCCO jointly with Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation, raise fund from the society and give impetus for world canal cities; fourthly, to jointly advance the 2021 World Horticultural Exposition and 2018 Peace and Sports program in Monaco.

Among meeting takers are GAO Jinshui, President of Headquarters of Finance& Enonomy Periodicals under China Finance& Economy Media Group, JIANG Yiping, Deputy Secretary-General of the Belt and Road Fund under Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation, WU Peihe, Secretariat officer of Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation, ZHANG Yuejin, Director of Expert Committee of WCCO, and ZHANG Futang, Party Secretary of West Lake Scenic Site of Yangzhou City.