Shanghai Daily / thursday, november 16, 2023 / hangzhou special 5

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CAA initiative promotes

mutual learning of civilizations

Wu Huixin

The Inter(World)View2023:

Mutual-Learning of Civilizations initiative has

transformed the Liangzhu

Campus of the China Academy of

Art into an artistic hub showcasing

the cultural exploration of other

civilizations.

The academy is celebrating its 95th

anniversary this year.

To draw inspiration, the CAA sent

faculty and students to 12 cultural

sites, including the Lufeng Dinosaur

Valley in Yunnan Province, the

Amazon rainforest, Silicon Valley, Icelandic volcanoes, Leonardo da Vinci’s

Residence, the Rusakov Workers’ Club

in Moscow, Damaidi in the Ningxia

Hui Autonomous Region, the Yangjialing Revolutionary Site in Shaanxi

Province and Katsura Imperial Villa

in Japan.

The exhibits on campus fall into

12 categories: Life, Basin, Society,

Technology, Belief, Culture, History,

Nation, Relic, Time, Education and

World.

The Chinese term for the project

is Tianwen (天问), meaning universal

questions. Everyone wants to discover

their origins. Arts and civilizations

were used to determine these cultural

sites’ historical and anthropological

value.

Professors and students visited

Damaidi, which is thought to be

the origin of Chinese characters. In

1988, geologists uncovered rock carvings with early Chinese pictographs

there.

The visit threw up questions for

the artists. “How can we trace the

origin of writing to the beginning

of the world? What were the knowledge carriers and transmission tools

prior to the systematic invention of

writing? Does information from the

prehistoric period still exist in modern writings?”

The faculty and students, in response to their findings, came up

with the work titled “Earthy Writing

and Containment of Time: Seeking

the Wordless Book.”

They had carried out multi-perspective talks with 12 other civilizations

as part of the Tianwen project. They

appreciated the beauty of each civilization as well as the diversity of

civilizations throughout the world.

The university has long encouraged

teachers and students to be aware of

future trends in human civilization,

particularly in the field of science and

technology. As a result, it sent a team

to Silicon Valley in the United States.

“To some extent, the relationship

between humanity and machinery

reflects the relationship between

human beings and nature,” according

to Jiang Jun, director of the School of

Visual Communication. “The moment

artificial technology surpasses nature might also be the moment when

we lose our genuineness.

“Technological civilization is a progression of human evolution through

technological advancement.”

The Tianwen project has drawn artists, scientists, and philosophers alike to

explore the creation of the world and civilizations. — Photos by Ti Gong

More than 200 trains run daily between

Shanghai and Hangzhou, with the fastest taking 45 minutes. Tickets can be

purchased on the 12306 app or at train

stations.

In Hangzhou, take Line 19 at Hangzhou East Railway Station, transfer to

Metro Line 2 at Shentang Bridge to

Liangzhu Station.

How to get there:

The Tianwen project is also part of

the CAA Journey Plan, which aims to

transcend history and professional

viewpoints, broaden the vision of art,

and interpret civilizational history

via art and understand art from the

perspective of civilizations.

The university started the

Inter(World)View2020: Dialogue of

Worldviews initiative in 2020, which

focused on natural science and

philosophy. It has now moved its

emphasis to social science and the

humanities.

“The Tianwen project considers humanistic thoughts to be the heaven,

and social actions to be the earth.

It encourages mutual learning between thoughts and actions in all

directions.

“Civilization is more than just cultural learning; it includes rethinking

ecology, economy, society, culture

and history,” said Gao Shiming,

president of the CAA.

For generations, Chinese people

have held the following belief about

handling intercultural relations,

which is “One should value not only

one’s own culture but also the cultures of others (各美其美,美人之美,美美

与共),” and this will contribute to the

flourishing of all cultures.

We believe that respect for other

nations and cultures would lead to

prosperity for all cultures around

the world. That is also the Tianwen

project’s philosophy.