2018 Symposium on China Studies opens 

Photo taken on July 23, 2018 shows the scene of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Symposium on China Studies in Beijing, capital of China. (Photo by Zhang Zhou/ Guangming Online)

BEIJING, July 23 (Guangming Online)--Themed “40 Years of Reform and Opening-up——China and the World”, the 2018 Symposium on China Studies opened here on Monday.

28 sinologists, scholars on China Studies and think tank experts from 24 countries as well as 11 Chinese scholars attend the opening ceremony of the symposium.

Svetlov Boris, Former Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, pointing out that Chinese culture is “a unique ‘Silk Road’ which exits not only in geographic space but also in history.”

Culture has become a pioneer that contributes to friendly relations among peoples from different countries, he added.

“Over the past 40 years of China’s reform and opening-up, huge changes have been made in China,” Nabizhan Mukametkhanuly, Head of the Department of Sinology and Director for the Center of Modern China Studies in Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, told Guangming Online.

“I have been to China for many times, China’s infrastructure impressed me most, and its fast development has contributed to improving people’s living standard.” he said.

Radosav Pušić, Director of the Confucius Institute in Belgrade, said he was impressed by the development of Chinese people in all respects.

“I first came to China in 1985. As Decades have passed, China is completely different from what it looked like before. China has achieved very rapid development,” he said.

Lisa Carducci, a translator from Canada, who has been in China for 23 years, said it is the best period of China in her eyes, and it is a great pleasure for her as a participant to have witnessed the achievement of China’s reform and opening-up.

Jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the symposium has been held for five times in China since 2013.

This year’s symposium will run from July 22 to 28.