Zhang Xu: The Sino-Foreign Cultural and Arts Exchange Center is a new positioning for Hong Kong's future development

Source: People's Daily - Hong Kong and Macao Channel Original draft

People's Daily On July 21, Hong Kong News (Reporter Chen Ying, intern Gang Xiuya) "Integrating Chinese and Foreign Civilizations and Mutual Learning" - The Summit Forum of the Hong Kong Center for The Development of Chinese and Foreign Cultural and Arts Exchanges was held today at the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong. Zhang Xu, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, pointed out in his speech that the special proposal of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" to "support Hong Kong's development of a Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange center" is a full affirmation of Hong Kong's contribution to the field of international art and cultural exchanges, and is also a positive response to the current urgent development needs of Hong Kong, clarifying a new positioning and cultivating new advantages for Hong Kong's future development. The following is the full text of the speech:

The Sino-Foreign Cultural and Arts Exchange Centre is a new positioning for Hong Kong's future development

——Speech at the Summit Forum of the Hong Kong Centre for The Development of Chinese and Foreign Cultures and Arts Exchanges on "Integrating Chinese and Foreign Civilizations and Mutual Learning"

Zhang Xu

Distinguished Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Deputy Director Lo Shin-ning, President Ma Feng, Distinguished Guests:

Hello everyone! Not long ago, we just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. 24 years ago, the celebration of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. Today, we are gathered here to discuss the new positioning of Hong Kong as a Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange centre, which is of special significance. On behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, I would like to extend my warm congratulations to the forum! To all new and old friends, I would like to express my sincere greetings and best wishes!

At this moment, standing on the shore of the Xiangjiang River that has undergone the baptism of years and the vicissitudes of great changes, we look back on the past and feel a thousand emotions. Over the past 100 years, Hong Kong has always been closely linked to the fate of the party, the country and the nation, and it is inseparable. In the 24 years since the return to the motherland, "one country, two systems" has written a chapter of the century-old great cause. At the historical intersection of the "two hundred years", the national "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to support the SPECIAL Administrative Region to consolidate and enhance its competitive advantages, build a functional platform for the "Belt and Road", and support Hong Kong's better integration into the overall situation of national development. This is a full affirmation of Hong Kong's contribution to the field of international art and cultural exchanges, and also a positive response to Hong Kong's urgent development needs, clarifying a new positioning and cultivating new advantages for Hong Kong's future development.

The development of The Sino-Foreign Cultural and Art Exchange Center is of positive significance to promoting Hong Kong's restart, helping Hong Kong to cultivate more advantageous industries, create more development opportunities, and providing a strong endogenous driving force for promoting Hong Kong's social and economic development; it is of positive significance to building a cultural power, helping to enhance the awareness and recognition of Chinese culture in Hong Kong, enhancing the national consciousness and patriotic spirit of Hong Kong compatriots, and providing a strong spiritual driving force for the realization of Hong Kong's long-term economic and social stability and the Realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation It is of positive significance to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations, and is conducive to further giving play to "Hong Kong's strengths, what the country needs", enhancing the radiation and influence of Cultural and Artistic Exchanges between China and foreign countries in Hong Kong, and playing a unique function and role in enhancing the soft power of national culture and promoting the joint construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

The development of a Chinese-foreign cultural and artistic exchange center is a brand new proposition, which requires all of us to exchange and discuss together and contribute wisdom. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is willing to work with Hong Kong to base itself on the new stage of development and adapt to the new development situation, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, promote cultural soul casting and cultural education, and pragmatically deepen cultural exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong. Here are some thoughts on how Hong Kong can develop a Sino-foreign cultural exchange centre:

The first is to promote mutual learning among civilizations and develop a center for the exchange of humanities and ideas between China and foreign countries. President Xi Jinping pointed out that "culture is the soul of a country and a nation. Culture rejuvenates the country and prospers, and culture strengthens the nation. Without a high degree of cultural self-confidence and without the prosperity of culture, there will be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." Today's world is experiencing major changes unprecedented in a century, the global outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the serious recession of the world economy, and the "rise in the east and the west" in the balance of international forces, and China is in a critical period of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As a cultural and artistic exchange center between China and foreign countries, Hong Kong undertakes the important task of enhancing the soft power of national culture and enhancing the influence of Chinese culture. Hong Kong should strengthen cultural self-confidence, adhere to the stand of Chinese culture, cultivate deeply, inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, enhance the awareness of Hong Kong compatriots in patriotism and love for Hong Kong, and enhance the sense of national and national identity of Hong Kong compatriots; it should seize the development opportunities of the country and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, take Chinese culture as the guide, deepen cultural exchanges and cooperation with the mainland, and take the initiative to shoulder the historical mission of building a cultural power; it should give play to the role of cultural exchanges between China and the West, actively carry out international humanistic and ideological exchanges, tell contemporary Chinese stories well, and tell well." The story of Hong Kong, the successful practice of "one country, two systems", should be refined and displayed from the cultural essence of excellent traditional culture with contemporary value and world significance, and contribute Chinese wisdom to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The second is to strengthen innovation leadership and build a hub for cultural and creative industries exchanges between China and foreign countries. Hong Kong's cultural and creative industries have a good foundation for development. Entering the stage of innovation-driven economic growth, cultural and creative industries with knowledge-based, creative and service-oriented characteristics can become new highlights of Hong Kong's economic growth. The development of cultural and creative industries will form a strong support for the development of Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange centers in Hong Kong. It is necessary to strengthen content construction, base on Chinese traditional culture, dig deep into Chinese cultural genes, promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, cultivate and shape a number of original IPs with distinct Chinese cultural characteristics, and create a number of international Chinese cultural brands; we must promote scientific and technological empowerment, grasp the development trend of science and technology, integrate the use of new technologies, create more industrial scientific and technological innovation achievements, promote the integration of culture and tourism with digitalization, and promote high-quality cultural supply; we must cultivate market players. Give full play to the leading role of industrial incubation platforms and leading enterprises in model innovation and integrated development, and promote the development of upstream and downstream small and medium-sized and micro enterprises through production collaboration, open platforms, and shared resources; it is necessary to deepen cultural and tourism cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, especially the cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao cultural and creative industries, and cultivate a number of cultural and creative industry development clusters with perfect industrial chains, rich innovation elements and complete supporting functions. It is necessary to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, give full play to the function of domestic and international "double cycle" intersections, make good use of flagship exhibition platforms such as the Hong Kong International Film and Television Exhibition, the Hong Kong Book Fair and the Design Business Week, deepen cultural interaction, project cooperation and trade exchanges with countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", and cultivate new advantages for China's participation in international cooperation and competition under the new situation.

The third is to accelerate the gathering of talents and create a highland for Chinese and foreign cultural talents. Talent is the key to governance, the foundation of prosperity, and the foundation of a strong country. The construction of Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange centers is not only reflected in the introduction of more and better cultural products, but also in the cultivation and cultivation of a large number of outstanding cultural talents, and the construction of Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange centers is vigorously promoted with a large scale, optimized structure, reasonable layout and excellent quality of cultural talents. It is necessary to speed up the gathering of the advantages of Chinese and foreign cultural talents, combine the actual conditions of Hong Kong, formulate standards for the identification of cultural talents, vigorously introduce leading talents in the high-end and scarce cultural industries at home and abroad, and lead the development of Hong Kong's cultural industry; it is necessary to increase the intensity of training cultural talents, actively dock with the national "14th Five-Year Plan", rely on the high-quality educational resources of domestic and foreign cultural and artistic colleges, and cultivate a large number of composite talents with cultural and artistic literacy, global vision, and industry knowledge; we must optimize the development environment for cultural talents and seize the opportunities for the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Deeply promote the convergence of rules and mechanisms in the fields of culture and art between the Mainland and Hong Kong, further facilitate Hong Kong artistic talents to study, find employment and start businesses in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, and let young talents find their own positions, give play to their own values and find a sense of gain in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the construction of a cultural power.

The central government attaches great importance to the development of a Chinese-foreign cultural and artistic exchange center in Hong Kong, and actively studies and supports hong Kong's cultural and artistic development policies. I would also like to take this opportunity to share with you some good news about the state's support for the development of culture and art in Hong Kong. In the past two years, Mr. Ma Fengguo and Mr. Fok Kai-gang have extensively collected the voices of the industry and visited various departments for communication and coordination in order to promote the development of culture and art in Hong Kong. Under their active efforts and after careful study, from 2021, the National Arts Fund will be fully open to Hong Kong and Macao, and art institutions and art workers in Hong Kong and Macao can directly apply for funding projects. At the same time, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is also actively promoting the cooperation between the mainland's outstanding art examination institutions and Hong Kong institutions to carry out art training and examination; together with the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, it has seriously studied the relevant policies for the evaluation of professional titles for Hong Kong and Macao literary and artistic workers, and incorporated Hong Kong and Macao into the national art series title evaluation system. This is a positive response from the central government to the urgent need for the development of art in Hong Kong. It is hoped that the vast number of Hong Kong cultural and artistic workers will make good use of the above policies, unite and unite a group of Hong Kong cultural and artistic groups and artistic workers who are committed to inheriting and carrying forward Chinese culture, help them improve their level, develop and grow, take the initiative to lead Hong Kong's good cultural ecology, and lead the cultural and artistic circles to create and disseminate a number of literary and artistic works with exquisite art and excellent production, embodying Hong Kong's characteristics and Chinese cultural heritage, and reflecting the spirit of the times, create a peak of Hong Kong culture and art, and contribute to the development of a Chinese-foreign cultural and artistic exchange center in Hong Kong.

I believe that with the vigorous support of the central government and the people of the mainland, and with the joint efforts of the Hong Kong SAR government and people from all walks of life in the culture, Hong Kong will surely overcome challenges and achieve new glory!" The Pearl of the Orient will surely be even more brilliant.

Thank you!