The 2017 Symposium on China Studies was unveiled in Beijing, July 24, 2017. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

The 2017 Symposium on China Studies was unveiled in Beijing on July 24. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture of China and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Twenty-six sinologists from across 22 countries attended the forum, along with 19 domestic scholars and sinologists from the Visiting Program for Young Sinologists in Zhengzhou.

The forum, themed on the "Belt and Road Initiative in a global view", includes three panel sessions –traditional culture and contemporary China, Chinese solution and global governance, and mutual development and common values – which will run until July 25.

Xie Jinying, director of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Chinese Culture Ministry, attended the opening ceremony of the forum, along with Zhu Qi, deputy-director of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Chinese Culture Ministry, Hu Leming, deputy-director of the International Cooperation Department of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Yu Fan, director of the Center of International Cultural Exchange.

Xie said the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held in May, provided an opportunity for international cultural exchanges, and added the Belt and Road Initiative gave a boost to the development of the world and sinology.

"The forum is based on the Belt and Road Initiative, and we sincerely hope all invited sinologists can give more constructive suggestions to the application of the initiative," he said.

"The upcoming 19th National Congress of the CPC will enable China to see more chances in transformation and development, as well as an opportunity for sinologists to boast their good ideas about how China could have a better future."

Jacques Gies, former president-director of the Musee Guimet National Museum of Asian Art (Paris), also addressed the opening ceremony.

He extended thanks to forum organizers for holding such a high level platform for sinologists around the world to communicate, and said the theme for the forum was a worthy question to discuss under the circumstances of globalization.

"The communication on this forum will highlight sinologists' understandings of Chinese culture, who come from a variety of cultural backgrounds," Gies said.

"I think the forum is a place which will see an exchange of different ideas and values."

After the forum, the Sinologists will start a theme tour of the Belt and Road Initiative in Qinghai province, which will run from July 26 to 28. The speeches of sinologists at the forum will also be published afterwards.

The annual Symposium on China Studies was first held in 2013, and was organized by the Ministry of Culture of China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Center of International Cultural Exchange. It was designed to boost cultural exchanges between Chinese scholars and sinologists from other countries, as well as promote sinology studies.

The visiting program for young sinologists is run by the Culture Ministry of China and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Since 2014, the annual event has aimed to strengthen cultural exchanges and set up a platform for young sinologists worldwide to communicate and learn more about Chinese culture and its history. The program will be held in Zhengzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing from July to September. A total of 31 young sinologists from across 28 countries participated in the program in Zhengzhou.