The 2024 Beijing Culture Forum opened on Thursday in the Chinese capital, with over 800 participants from home and abroad exploring topics around cultural inheritance, development and exchanges.

Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event on Thursday and delivered a speech.

During the event, the participants stressed the importance of protecting cultural heritage and tapping into its value.

They called for efforts to inspire the creativity of writers, artists and the public to produce more excellent cultural works.

They also underscored the need to foster exchanges between civilizations, practice the Global Civilization Initiative, and step up international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation to enhance mutual understanding and friendship among people of all countries.

In addition to the opening ceremony and the main forum, the three-day event will also host six parallel forums as well as cultural activities for professionals and the public, according to the organizers.