Sino-French cultural forum to be held in Beijing

The press conference of the Sino-French cultural forum was held in Western Returned Scholars Association Site in Beijing, May 23, 2016. [Photo by Li Meng/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A two-day Sino-French cultural forum, with 150 guests from France participating in 11 sub-forums, will be held in Beijing starting May 26.

Among the participants are director Jean Jacques Annaud, architect Paul Andreu and Chinese-American architect Bei Jianzhong.

The forum, entitled "One Belt One Road: Cultural Dialogue and Fusion", will have elites from both countries sharing their insights and experiences in various fields, including culture, art, economy and education, to enhance dialogue in heritage protection, history studies, and city development.

"This forum is not supposed to be restricted only between China and France. I hope the forum could be developed into a world forum, a 'Davos Forum of Culture' to be exact," said Christine Cayol, founder of the forum's co-host Yishu 8.

"If we look forward 50 to 100 years, we might not want to see a world with only the economy setting the rules. We need art and more cultural dialogue if we want to create a world of peace."

The forum, which was put forward in 2014 by Chen Zhu, president of the Western Returned Scholars Association, and former French premier Jean-Pierre Raffarin, is aimed at building a non-official and non-profit Sino-French communication platform.

As introduced by Chen Zhu, the Sino-French Cultural Forum Beijing Declaration is to be announced on May 25.

Co-hosted by Yishu 8 and the Western Returned Scholars Association, the forum will be held in China and France alternatively. The second forum will be held in Lyons, France.