Silk Road sheds light on international exchanges

The fifth China-Canada Cultural Dialogue was recently held in Dunhuang, northwestern China’s Gansu Province. Participants in the forum exchanged ideas on innovating means of cultural creation, interpretation, expression and communication. Cultural exchange is able to bring people closer together, and Dunhuang will become another bridge for China-Canada cultural exchanges, said Sheila Copps, former deputy prime minister of Canada and a senior consultant at the Canadian International Cultural Funds. Zhang Xiantang, deputy director of the Dunhuang Research Academy, said the spirit of the Silk Road includes peaceful exchange, equal communication, inclusiveness, mutual learning, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. The spirit of the Silk Road once drove exchanges among peoples of different ethnicities and religious beliefs in Eurasian areas. This spirit still has historical value and can provide valuable lessons to guide international exchanges today, Zhang said.