Interpreting Characters, Talking about Tea, Talking about Dunhuang, Foreigners Talking About Civilization Exchange between East and West China | Chinese Characters | East and West
Dunhuang, Gansu, China (Xinhua) - Iranian tea and history, the Mogao Caves mural "Sacrificing oneself to feed tigers", Laozi's "Tao Te Ching", ancient Chinese poetry, and interpretation of Chinese characters... At the Second Dialogue of Civilization and Friendship Organizations held in Dunhuang, Gansu on September 6th, government officials, experts, and scholars from more than 20 countries, including India, Egypt, Italy, and Spain, discussed cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and jointly explored new paths for open cooperation.
Richard Sears, an American scholar known as the "Uncle of Chinese Characters" with a small notebook and a pen, was interviewed by China News Agency on the 6th. When discussing Dunhuang culture, he first wrote down the two Chinese characters "Dunhuang" in his portable notebook. He explained the Buddhist culture he hoped to explore on this trip while explaining the text and characters to the reporter.
"Behind every Chinese character lies a story that connects Chinese history." Richard Sears said that in the current era of globalization, culture should not have a "sense of boundaries". Chinese characters are not only Chinese, but also global. In the future, he will also use new media such as videos to allow more people to understand the real China through Chinese characters.
The Silk Road is famous for the silk trade produced in China, but compared to silk itself, porcelain and tea, two latecomer brands, have more vitality and promote exchanges and exchanges between ancient China and world civilizations.
Ba Amin, the founder of the Chinese language program at the Iranian Language Center and a Sinologist born in the 1980s, uses "tea" to talk about the past of cultural exchange between Iran and China. He said that Iranian tea is directly influenced by China in terms of its literal meaning, medicinal efficacy, and cultivation and processing. It has also been fully accepted by Iranian culture and integrated into Iranian life, becoming a beverage that Iranian people can enjoy with their close friends. Nowadays, the rapidly changing tea culture has become a new way for Iran and China to learn from each other.
When it comes to the current exchange of civilizations between the East and the West, former Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, Sima An, said, "No country is an island. We need to engage in friendly exchanges in various aspects such as ideas, personnel, and projects. People like the pioneers of the Silk Road spread their products, inventions, craftsmanship, traditions, and lifestyles to vast distances, connecting our world. As the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Bo of China said, 'Amidst the sea, we know each other, and the ends of the world are like neighbors.'"
Sima An said that, as reflected in the iconic mural "Sacrificing oneself to feed a tiger" in the Mogao Caves, the altruistic love that has been praised since the Tang Dynasty is still a treasure cherished by all humanity today. History has repeatedly reminded us that when the momentum of cooperation is strong, solutions will emerge.
Sima An suggested that we should make good use of the power of technology to effectively address issues that affect everyone, such as climate change, epidemics, war, poverty, and inequality. The core of our joint response to these challenges is our relentless pursuit of global harmony and sustainable development. This pursuit coincides with Laozi's wisdom in the Tao Te Ching: "Man follows the earth, the earth follows the heavens, the heavens follow the Tao, and the Tao follows nature."
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