2018 Symposium on China Studies kicks off in Beijing

The 2018 Symposium on China Studies kicked off in Beijing on Monday. Twenty-eight sinologists from 24 countries and 11 Chinese scholars joined the symposium, which runs until July 28.  

Xie Jinying, director-general of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, speaks at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Symposium on China Studies on July 23, 2018. [Photo by Gao Zhan/China SCIO]

Jointly hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the symposium aims at providing a professional platform for sinologists and Chinese scholars to exchange ideas on China's 40 years of reform and opening up.

Xie Jinying, director-general of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said China's reform and opening up has had an unprecedented impact on China and the world.

"After 40 years, China has embarked on a path of win-win development with the world and enhanced the well-being of people of all countries," Xie said.

Svetlov Boris, former minister of culture of the Republic of Belarus, said Chinese culture was a special "silk road," which promoted friendly relations and mutual understanding between people around the world.

"The experience of China is an integral part of world development," Zheng Yongnian, professor and director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, said. "This is very important, because China is now the second largest economy in the world and the largest trading country in the world."

"China's development has been completed in the context of globalization during the 40 years," Zheng continued. "China has learned a lot from other countries, and vice versa. The Chinese model can be used as a reference for the world."