Xinhua: EFEF-2025 – Cultural Dialogue Session: Historical Memory and Mutual Learning among Civilizations. Creating a New Chapter of Humanistic Exchanges in Eurasia
Source: Xinhua
On April 17-18, Shanghai hosted the Eurasian Financial and Economic Forum 2025, the topic of which was: “Financial Activation, Technological Progress, Sectoral Cooperation and Building Cultural Ties. Creating a New Ecosystem of High-quality Cooperation between Europe and Asia”. Representatives of organizations, experts, scientists and members of the business community from Eurasian countries took part in the forum and exchanged opinions.
As part of the forum, there was held a session dedicated to cultural dialogue. Its topic was “Historical Memory and Mutual Learning among Civilizations. Creating a New Chapter of Humanistic Exchanges in Eurasia”. The session was co-organized by the Heroic Culture Foundation at Tsinghua University and moderated by Zhao Jinyi, Deputy Secretary General of Tsinghua University, and Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, a famous Russian opera singer. In a warm atmosphere, the session participants discussed major issues of the heritage and innovation of heroic culture, the mechanism of mutual learning among civilizations and expanding cultural opportunities for regional development, and reached a series of important consensus.
The forum on humanistic exchanges and dialogue of civilizations in Eurasia brought together experts, scholars and representatives of institutions from different countries to exchange ideas and share wisdom. The forum representatives held in-depth discussions on the long history and cultural exchanges between the two countries, the inheritance and development of Russian-Chinese friendship, as well as the innovative expression of patriotism and heroic culture.
Professor Zhang Yu, Secretary General of the Heroic Culture Foundation of Tsinghua University and Vice-Rector of the School of Marxism, delivered a keynote speech on “The Discourse of Simple Heroes in the New Era”. The professor explained the contemporary value of heroic culture as the common basis of Eurasian civilization from a multi-dimensional perspective and proposed new approaches to the cross-civilizational narrative of heroism.
Scholar Zhou Canlin from Tsinghua University shared his views on the role of youth in the mutual enrichment of heroic cultures. He pointed out that the young generation's understanding of the heroic culture is profoundly changing. Young people pay more attention to the civic nature and diverse values of heroes. Within the framework of Eurasian civilization exchanges, we need to renew the way of expression of heroism so that the heroic culture becomes a spiritual link that unites the youth of different countries.
Dai Yong, Board member of Tsinghua University's Heroic Culture Foundation, elaborated on how to strengthen interaction with all sides to promote Eurasian culture in the current situation. ‘Eurasian countries have great potential for joint research on heroic culture. I propose to establish regular academic exchanges to seek modern interpretations of traditional heritage,’ said Mr. Dai Yong.
Key partners from FBA EAC also shared their views. Ivan Arkhipov, Vice-President of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society and Head of the Arkhipov Foundation for the Development of Socio-Economic Relations between Russia and China, spoke about the work on strengthening humanitarian ties. He emphasized: ‘Humanitarian exchanges are an important basis for economic and trade cooperation, and deepening cultural understanding allows us to strengthen mutual trust and create more favorable conditions for economic cooperation.’
In her keynote speech, Diana Mashtakeeva, Director General of the Financial Markets Association “Council for Professional Qualifications Development”, noted that the new model of industry and education integration generated by the cultural mutual trust between China and Russia not only reduces Russia's dependence on the Western technological system, but also promotes the development of endogenous innovation to support the structural transformation of the economy, and serves as a model for building technological sovereignty in the Eurasian economic space.
Tatiana Urzhumtseva, Head of the Russian Cultural Centre in Beijing, noted that the cultural dialogue between Russia and China has long gone beyond language, and culture serves as a tool for the development of economic cooperation between Russia and China, bringing a humanistic component to the trade and economic cooperation as well as scientific and technological innovation of the two countries.
‘The diverse cultural heritage of Eurasia is our common wealth, and these cultural resources not only have historical value, but also provide wisdom for the development of modern society,’ said Tudor Afanasov, President of the Chamber for Economic and Cultural Cooperation between Romania and Russia. He emphasized the role of culture as a bridge across national borders and called for the use of historical memory and traditional wisdom to help build a multipolar world order.
In terms of cooperation and development of the sports industry, Jiang Yujun, Head of the Youth Sports Department of Chongqing Municipal Sports Bureau shared with the Russian delegates topics of mutual interest such as: economic development of competitions, branding of outdoor sports, exchange and cooperation in youth sports. He noted that ‘sport is a universal language that unites cultures, and through sports exchanges, one can strengthen friendship between people and lay the foundation for cooperation in other fields.’
Civilizations are enriched through exchanges and mutual learning. The session highlighted the active role of Tsinghua University's Heroic Culture Foundation in Eurasian civilizational dialogue, and fully demonstrated that the dialogue of civilizations in the process of modern globalization is essentially a continuation of the historical code of Eurasian exchanges. The search for common historical memory and the innovative forms of humanistic exchanges will provide deeper cultural support for regional cooperation in Europe and Asia.