Photo: Courtesy of Art China

To go with an ongoing exhibition at the China Millennium Monument, a seminar was held on Saturday with the theme of “Power of Art,” exploring how to build a beautiful image of China in cultural exchanges and spread Chinese culture. 

Hosted by the China Academy of Art based in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, an exhibition titled Song of the Earth: Artistic Documentary for a Better China showcases nearly 100 cases of building a “beautiful China” selected from across the country, including construction and revitalization of villages, the revitalization and renewal of communities and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage techniques passing down to modern times. 

Wang Sha, deputy director of the Beautiful China Research Institute at the China Academy of Art, said the proposals can “encourage more people to join the campaign.” 

Professor Xiang Yong from Peking University, who is also the president of the university’s Cultural Industry Research Institute, said that an ecosystem is needed to boost the cultural construction in rural areas, which requires respect for the local conditions and history. 

After keynote speeches, experts and scholars discussed and expressed their opinions on topics like “the role of art and design in building China’s national cultural image” and “the construction of the image of a beautiful China” and “the training and mechanism for young talent.”

The exhibition is set to run until March 27.