On October 24, 2018, the opening ceremony of the “Nanjing Week” in Paris and the “International Partnership Forum on Open City and Cultural Diversity” was held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The event was hosted by the Nanjing Municipal People’s Government, supported by UNESCO, China’s Permanent Mission to UNESCO, and the National Commission for UNESCO of China. “Nanjing Week” organizing committee and Nanjing Cultural Investment Group undertakes the implementation which carried out by Nanjing Innovation City Cultural Promotion Center and the Nanjing Shendu Promotion Center.
Foreign guests, including representative of Senior Officials of UNESCO, French writer, Nobel laureate, Le Clezio, UNESCO Department of African Sector Coordination and Partnerships Director Du Yue, representative of the Ambassador of the African National Mission to UNESCO, representative of the French literary and art circles, representatives of French cultural enterprises (publishers, bookstores, etc.), representatives of French universities and college students attended the event.
Chinese guests attending the event included Wang Desheng, senior representative of the Permanent Mission of China to UNESCO, Vice President of Nanjing Foreign Cultural Exchange Association, Xu Jun, Chinese translator and winner of the Golden Medal of Education in France. Bi Feiyu, Chinese writer, winner of the French Literary and Art Knights, Wen Yiwu, representative of the Nanjing Entrepreneurs Chamber of Commerce, Ji Wen, Chinese female writer, representative of Nanjing University and Reading Organization.
The event consisted of a forum, an opening ceremony and a concert. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, along with the wonderful video of Nanjing, the prelude of this event was started. Subsequently, senior official of UNESCO, senior representative of China at UNESCO, Du Yue, director of UNESCO Africa Department of Coordination and Partnership, Wang Desheng, vice president of Nanjing Foreign Cultural Exchange Association and representatives of Ambassadors of African Countries to UNESCO attended the ceremony. Around the theme of “Open City and Cultural Diversity”, Le Clezio, Du Yue, Xu Jun and Bi Feiyu make their ideas collided. Literature, open to the city, has a rich contribution to culture. In the 21st century, it calls for cross-border integration and encourages innovation and development. Under the strong impact of this era, who will be the leader of this wave? UNESCO officials, writers from China and France and translators have unique discoveries and opinions.
After the forum, the French people who lived in Nanjing shared their “Nanjing Story” with everyone. Ji Wen, a Nanjing writer, is famous for her creation of Nanjing historical and cultural novels. Her “Porcelain Tower of Nanjing” and “Tale of Imperial Examination” have carried out literary interpretation of Nanjing’s history and culture; French photographer Nicolas Harter, Azenor Chalmel studied in Nanjing. They observed Nanjing in the perspective of both French and world. During the 8th Nanjing City Conference, which was co-sponsored by UNESCO, China National Committee for UNESCO, and the organizing committee of the 2018 Nanjing Historical and Cultural City Expo, the “Belt and Road” Youth Creative and Heritage Forum (Nanjing Station), hosted by Nanjing Shendu Promotion Center was successfully held in Nanjing. The Ethiopian girl Hannah Getachew participated in the event. Later, on behalf of the youths of the countries, she wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping to report on her feelings and opinions. President Xi was pleased to reply. Nesma Jaber, a Palestinian girl studying in France, is also a guest of the 8th Nanjing City Conference. She also has a good impression of Nanjing.
The opening ceremony of the 2018 “Nanjing Week” Paris Station is simple and vivid. After playing the Nanjing Week propaganda film, a small release and donation ceremony was held. In the middle of the 17th century, the world’s most beautiful color printing technology was born in Nanjing. Today, the Chinese engraving and printing technology represented by Shizhuzhai has been inherited and developed in Nanjing. This time, Nanjing donated a beautiful Shishuzhai book to UNESCO. In order to facilitate the world to vividly and intuitively understand Nanjing, Nanjing will organize the translation and publication of literary works from 2018. The novel “Porcelain Tower of Nanjing” and “Tale of Imperial Examination” as the outstanding representatives of “Qinhuai Story” held the English version ceremony. The finale was a concert of “Voices for Peace”, which was performed by musicians from the Nanjing National Orchestra and the Nanjing (Golden Eagle) Philharmonic Orchestra. The melodious folk music and the free western music collided with the brilliant artistic sparks, presenting a Chinese and Western auditory feast. Throughout the whole day of the event, Nanjing will use the power of literature to gather people’s hearts and minds, and let the world feel the humanistic charm of cultural capital Nanjing.
The “Nanjing Week” was held in Paris in the fall of 2018. Paris is the headquarters of UNESCO. Nanjing has cooperated closely with the organization in recent years and has achieved a series of remarkable results: In May 2013, the Nanjing Municipal People’s Government and UNESCO signed a three-year Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement. Subsequently, Nanjing established the “Study of Peace”; from 2014 to now, Nanjing and UNESCO jointly organized the three-time World Historical and Cultural City Expo; in April 2018, the “Remolding Cultural Policy, Upgrade Designs for Development” (2018 Global Report) was implemented by the Nanjing Shendu Promotion Center. Its launching ceremony of the Chinese version was successfully held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. This report is the second phase evaluation of UNESCO’s implementation of the 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity in the past three years. With the support and help of the Chinese National Committee, Nanjing will introduce the Chinese version of the report to China at once. This will greatly expand the coverage and influence of the report, and will also effectively promote the Chinese and Chinese population to further understand UNESCO idea. At present, Nanjing is actively applying for and creating UNESCO “Creative City Network, Literature Capital”. Nanjing Ming Dynasty Wall is also seeking recognition from UNESCO and hopes to become a “World Cultural Heritage” at an early date. Taking this 2018 “Nanjing Week” Paris Station as an opportunity, Nanjing held a series of cultural activities at the UNESCO headquarters to further demonstrate the city’s characteristics and reflect the advantages of urban resource endowment.
SOURCE “Nanjing Week” Organizing Committee