More than 180 senior officials and experts from home and abroad
reached consensus on the respect and preservation of cultural
diversity at China's 3rd Globalization Forum, which concluded in
Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, on
Wednesday.
According to the Hangzhou Statement adopted at the forum,
culture is the essence of a nation, and cultures of different
nations are mutually irreplaceable and serve as the basis of
cultural development in the world.
Economic globalization should not bundle different cultures into
a single model that transcends individual ones, it said, and
sustainable development can only be achieved in a more diversified,
prosperous and harmonious world on the basis of intercultural
exchange, accommodation and intermingling.
The forum agreed that every nation has the obligation to protect
its cultural traditions and interests to secure its
independence.
In Paris on October 20, the 33rd UNESCO General Conference
adopted by overwhelming majority the Convention on the Protection
of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions, the
first international convention of its kind.
The forum, themed "Respect Cultural Diversity, Jointly Build a
Harmonious World," was jointly sponsored by People's
Daily, the Globalization Cooperation Foundation and UNESCO's
Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity.
Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO's assistant director-general for
culture, told the forum that when a country has a very rapid urban
development, one of the challenges is balancing urban development
and the preservation of historical buildings.
He said the issue of rehabilitation of historic centers only
surfaced during the middle of last century in European countries as
they experienced rapid urbanization.
In the 1960s, France created a law for the protection of the
historic sites of Paris. Then, in Italy, there was a similar action
for cities such as Florence.
It is important for China to understand and study these
initiatives for the sake of the preservation of its historic
centers, said Bouchenaki, and needs improved training in
maintenance, protection and rehabilitation of cultural
heritage.
(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2005)
