Prelude to 4th China-ASEAN Ethnic Cultural Forum held in Guilin

A pre-micro forum serving as a warmup of the 4th China-ASEAN Ethnic Cultural Forum was held at the Zen Cultural Exchange Center in Xixia Temple, Guilin Seven Star Scenic Spot on June 11, bringing together a number of experts and scholars from China and Australia.

The micro-forum was co-sponsored by the Guangxi Federation of Social Science, the Guilin municipal government, Guangxi International Cultural Exchange Center, and Guangxi University for Nationalities, with the theme of China-ASEAN ethnic culture and preserving cultural diversity while pursuing future development.

Colin Mackerras, a famous Australian scholar and lifetime professor at Griffin University, shared his experiences of ethnic minority areas in China at the forum. For more than 50 years, he has devoted himself to the study of China, covering fields such as Chinese ethnic minorities, traditional Chinese drama, China's image in the West, and Australia-China relations.

"What has been remarkable to me is that while pursuing the promotion of modernization, China's ethnic minority areas also attach great importance to the protection and inheritance of traditional national culture, which is very difficult to achieve," said Mackerras. He expressed that it is better to integrate tradition customs with modern technology to preserve the charm of the ethnic culture, as well as make it more widely accepted in modern times.

The China-ASEAN Ethnic Cultural Forum has been held in Guangxi three times. The forum has become an important international academic exchange event in the region, providing a platform for Chinese and foreign scholars to study and exchange views on ethnic culture preservation.

With the theme of "Regional Cooperation and Sharing of Ethnic Culture," the forthcoming 4th China-ASEAN Ethnic Cultural Forum will be held in Guilin in mid-July. It will explore issues such as regional cooperation and joint governance of China-ASEAN ethnic culture, ethnic cultural tourism and urban development, as well as ethnic cultural exchange and sharing under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

It will serve as an effective platform to further deepen the understanding of the ethnic culture, enhance the research level and academic discourse, as well as promote the development of China-ASEAN ethnic culture.