The event site.
The city of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province in southeast China is often called China’s ceramic capital. When President Xi Jinping visited Jingdezhen last year, he stressed how porcelain is a treasure and calling card of the Chinese nation and called Jingdezhen a window for the world to see China and understand Chinese culture.
As a tribute to the heritage of the city, the China Today-Jingdezhen Salon was held here on October 19, along with the inauguration of the 2024 “Integration and Mutual Learning” Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour. To showcase China’s ceramic art, recognized as an intangible cultural heritage.
Held under the aegis of the China International Communications Group (CICG) and the Publicity Department of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the events were sponsored by the CICG Center for Europe and Africa and the Publicity Department of the Jingdezhen Municipal Committee of the CPC. They were organized by Beijing Jinzhong Culture Communication Co., Jingdezhen National Ceramic Copyright Trading Center, and Zhejiang Fengwo Holding Co., Ltd.
Gao Anming, Editor-in-Chief of CICG, says Jingdezhen is a window for the world to perceive China and understand Chinese culture at the China Today-Jingdezhen Salon on October 19.
Exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations have been an important driver for human progress and global peace and development. Gao Anming, Editor-in-Chief of CICG, said President Xi gives great importance to such exchanges. On an earlier visit to Jiangxi in 2019, Xi had proposed building a national ceramic culture inheritance and innovation pilot zone in Jingdezhen and creating a new platform for foreign cultural exchanges.
Gao called the salon and the 2024 “Integration and Mutual Learning” Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour “vivid practices” by international communication agencies and local governments to act on Xi’s instructions and build a beautiful porcelain capital, as well as create a new platform for Sino-foreign cultural exchanges in Jiangxi, especially Jingdezhen. They were an important measure for CICG to help Jingdezhen improve its international communication capacity and spread its ceramic culture so that the world better understood the city.
Zhang Long, a member of the Standing Committee of the Jingdezhen Municipal Committee of the CPC and Director of its Publicity Department, says the China Today -Jingdezhen Salon will boost Jingdezhen's international cultural exchanges.
Zhang Long, a member of the Standing Committee of the Jingdezhen Municipal Committee of the CPC and Director of its Publicity Department, said the China Today -Jingdezhen Salon was a “joyous event” for Jingdezhen's foreign cultural exchanges and would boost the China Jingdezhen International Ceramics Expo.
Zhang said the 2024 “Integration and Mutual Learning” Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour is a new starting point for Jingdezhen to deepen cultural exchanges with foreign countries and enrich its international communication. He called the salon an important platform for foreign friends to understand Chinese culture and for telling China’s stories well.
Maimona Ahmed Mohammed Khalid, Minister of the Sudanese Embassy in China, hopes the Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour will go to her country to promote the cultural communication of the two nations.
Maimona Ahmed Mohammed Khalid, Minister of the Sudanese Embassy in China, said China’s ceramics, a vital part of the Chinese civilization, serves as a carrier of a millennium of cultural memory and aesthetic preferences. The China Today-Jingdezhen Salon will serve as new platform to demonstrate the unique charm of Jingdezhen’s porcelain to the world as part of the efforts to promote this intangible heritage.
Sudan and China have a long friendship and the Belt and Road Initiative has brought opportunities of common development. Against this backdrop, the 2024 Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour is of particular importance and she hoped that Jingdezhen’s ceramic art will also go to Sudan and promote the cultural communication of the two nations to build a new bridge of mutual understanding and friendship.
Zhao Lijun, President of the CICG Center for Europe and Africa, says the China Today-Jingdezhen Salon is a new platform to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
Zhao Lijun, President of the Center for Europe and Africa (China Today) under the CICG, said the China Today-Jingdezhen Salon is a new platform of the CICG to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as directed by the 20th CPC National Congress. The salon taps into CICG’s multilingual international communication resources via multimedia and multi-platforms and aims to host people-to-people exchanges, brand promotion, high-level dialogues and forums for the outside world to better understand China. Zhao also said she is confident the salon will facilitate communication between Jingdezhen and the outside world to give new vitality to this ancient ceramic capital.
Yu Zhihua, Director of the Jingdezhen National Ceramic Copyright Trading Center, says his organization will work closely with China Today to tell China’s stories through china.
Yu Zhihua, Director of the Jingdezhen National Ceramic Copyright Trading Center, said that the brand “China Today Salon” is not only an innovative way of international communication, but also an important platform which allows international friends to understand China and Chinese culture. In collaboration with the Center for Europe and Africa (China Today) under the CICG, they will tell more China’s stories through china.
Lü Jinquan, Chairman of Jingdezhen Artists Association, says local artists’ goal is to make their ceramic art go global.
Lü Jinquan, Chairman of Jingdezhen Artists Association, said the China Today-Jingdezhen Salon is the perfect space for Jingdezhen ceramic artists to communicate with their Chinese and foreign peers and enhance Sino-foreign friendship. He called the salon a great platform for exchange and cooperation and to tell Jingdezhen’s stories to the world, internationalizing ceramic art.
Participants say the salon has provided a broad platform for communication.
Guests pose for a group photo after the opening ceremony of the China Today·Jingdezhen Salon.
Aunouviet Azouwani, Premier Counsellor of Gabonese Embassy in China, and Sheng Jingjing, Director of the Jingdezhen Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, unveiled the Home of Foreign Jingpiao (expats in Jingdezhen) with other guests, saying the facility will provide better services for them.
Guests pose for a group photo after unveiling the Home of Foreign Jingpiao.
An activity collecting international designs of Chinese bowls was also unveiled during the event. It invites domestic and foreign designers, manufacturers, investors, and copyright protection institutions to present new designs for the traditional Chinese utensil, hoping to pool wisdom to promote the innovative development of ceramic art.
Visitors at the 2024 Inaugural Exhibition on Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour.
The “Integration and Mutual Learning” 2024 Conference on Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour held in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, on October 19, 2024.
The “Integration and Mutual Learning” 2024 Conference on Chinese Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage World Tour brought together more than 50 representatives from the art, academic, media, and business communities to discuss development of international communication, international dissemination of digital culture, cultural exchange between Gen Z and Jingpiao, and international communication on Jingdezhen ceramic culture and art.
Article and photos by CICG Center for Europe and Africa
