The 2026 Beijing Great Wall Concert Photos: Dong Feng/GT

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in China has hosted a series of cultural events in Beijing, from music to new book launches, cultural exchanges sessions. These events mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations while deepening people-to-people exchanges. 

On September 6, the 2026 Beijing Great Wall Concert was staged at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, hosting delegates from diplomatic community, media, businesses, artists and partners of the Pakistani Embassy. 

Pakistani Ambassador to China Khalil Hashmi said in his opening remarks that the Great Wall provided a befitting setting to commemorate the milestone year in Pakistan-China relations, adding that the historic landmark carries a special connection with the friendship between the two peoples. 

"Music gives voice to emotion, while dance gives it form and movement," Hashmi noted, underscoring the power of the arts to transform cultural heritage from something remembered into something experienced. 

The opening performance was a solo dance by Zhang Jingdi, titled Dunhuang Murals. With more than seven decades of dancing in her career tenure, Zhang, a renowned Chinese dance performing artist, and one of the founders of Dunhuang-Style dance, harvested rounds of applauds with her elegant dancing moves, as if those fairies in the Dunhuang murals went live on the stage. 

Group dance Ode to Pakistan-China Friendship wowed the audience with the colorful and vibrant stage presentations. 

In addition, newly published books were celebrated at the Pakistani Embassy for facilitating people-to-people exchanges. 

On September 9, a book titled Islamabad: The Biography was launched at the embassy along with the Foreign Language Press. 

Ambassador Hashmi said in his remarks that Islamabad is one of Pakistan's youngest cities, yet the landscape around it carries the imprint of thousands of years of history. It is this combination of the modern and the ancient that gives the city much of its character.

The book's Chinese version title evokes Islamabad as "The Garden City at the Foot of the Himalayas." It also connects the story of the capital with Pakistan's national journey and with the contemporary relationship between Pakistan and China, Hashmi said. 

"The launch of this Chinese edition is particularly meaningful as Pakistan and China commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations," affirmed Hashmi. 

Over these seven and a half decades, our relationship has developed into an All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, sustained by strong political trust and extensive cooperation. Its enduring vitality, however, is also found in the growing familiarity and affection between our peoples. This publication is a welcome contribution to that endeavor, Hashmi said. 

In the seventh chapter in the book, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was featured as "A Path of Friendship for the New Era," sections from the history of oil exploration, which is also a history of China-Pakistan friendship, the vital chokepoint of the CPEC, Hasan Abdal, and economic arteries: hard power reshaping geopolitics, to green, people-centered, and open: broad regional cooperation and cultural exchange and interaction: the contemporary value of the bonds of civilization, have given readers an consolidated overview of bilateral cooperation. 

On September 10, the embassy hosted a launch ceremony of the English edition of Study of Ancient Seal Script Symbols from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro: Exploration of the Indus Valley Script Origins. 

Pakistani Ambassador to China Khalil Hashmi gives opening remarks at a new book launch on September 10, 2026.

Ambassador Hashmi said in his opening remarks that for him "the most fascinating aspect of this work is the possibility that it opens for us to think differently about the historical connections between ancient China and the region that we know today as Pakistan."

The book examines 401 relatively complete seals from Harappa, an ancient city located in Punjab, Pakistan, and Mohenjo-daro, meaning "mound of the dead" in Sindhi, one of the major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, and provides interpretations of 132 individual characters. What makes the study especially interesting is its comparison of these symbols with inscriptions, imagery and cultural traditions associated with prehistoric China, particularly the Hongshan cultural sphere.

This book is not only an academic contribution. It is also an example of the intellectual and cultural bridges that Pakistan and China can build together, Hashmi added. 

The work is also available in English and Urdu. 

"I hope this book will encourage further archaeological and historical research, greater academic cooperation, and perhaps new discoveries about the connections between two of the world's great ancient cultural traditions," said Hashmi. 

Zhou Yushu, president of Inner Mongolia Honder College of Arts and Sciences, also the author of the book, explained to the Global Times how the ancient Chinese and Pakistani people interpreted the same image, symbols in similar ways. 

The findings of the study on the correlation between written symbols indicate that there are striking similarities between the seal inscriptions of Pakistan and China's oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, pointing to the same origin. 

Zhu said samples for the research were selected from more than 400 seals published in authoritative books released by the Pakistani government.

The book discussed the use of ritual symbols and offerings; the significance of the bull and other animal imagery; and possible similarities in symbols relating to concepts such as birth, divination, thunder and ancestral worship.