Over the past year, China’s cultural appeal on the global stage has kept growing and thriving, and the Global Civilization Initiative is gaining increasing support across the globe.
AFFECTION, THROUGH GENERATIONS
A growing number of Chinese youth are embracing their country’s traditional culture, a heritage which dates back thousands of years.
Compared to their parents’ generation, they start to learn about traditional culture at a relatively early age. They see it not only in museums. Rather, they feel traditional culture on various important occasions with cultural elements incorporated.
Zhuang Enqi (front) practices Yingge dance with a troupe in Yujiao Village of Guiyu Township, Shantou City, south China’s Guangdong Province, May 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)Zhou Jie, a full-time teacher of the “little Kunqu Opera training class,” guides pupils at a training room of Shipai Center Primary School of Kunshan in Kunshan City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, Sept. 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Bo)
They focus on their love for traditional Chinese culture and are passionate about popularizing it. They combine traditional culture with modern elements when making cultural works and manage to promote traditional craftsmanship using a profitable business model.
They believe the strength of their country has provided a solid foundation for the revival and passing on of traditional culture, and their ancestral treasures deserve more attention and love from the masses.
Passengers try to make Qingtuan, green sticky rice balls, on a train passing through Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province, April 2, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Bo)Ayousha records short videos at the reindeer herding site in Jinhe Town of Genhe City, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, July 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Xuebing)Villagers parade with fish-shaped lanterns in Wangmantian Village of Xitou Town in Shexian County, Huangshan City of east China’s Anhui Province, Feb. 10, 2025. (Photo by Shi Yalei/Xinhua)Song Zhanke makes a dough sculpture of Chinese mythological figure, the Monkey King, at his studio in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province, Aug. 27, 2024. (Xinhua/Hao Yuan)Wang Ziqiang applies glaze to a dried cat-shaped clay artifact, which was used to decorate roofs in old times, at his studio in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Sept. 18, 2024. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)
CONFIDENCE, INCREASED EXPOSURE
On Dec. 4, 2024, “Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of traditional new year” was inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The festival’s international appeal is evident in celebrations around the globe. It draws thousands of people who are keen to learn about Chinese traditions. And its influence transcends cultural and geographical boundaries and inspires cross-cultural aspirations.
People perform Yingge dance during the Spring Festival celebration on Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, Feb. 2, 2025. The Yingge dance, or “dance to the hero’s song,” is a form of folk dance popular in south China’s Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)Lion dancers perform at Trafalgar Square to celebrate the Chinese New Year in London, Britain, on Feb. 2, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Ying)People watch a folk performance in Huayuan County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China’s Hunan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. (Photo by Long Enze/Xinhua)An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 27, 2025 shows a dragon dance performance at the Huangshan Mountain scenic area in east China’s Anhui Province. (Photo by Shi Yalei/Xinhua)A folk artist performs fire pot show, an intangible cultural heritage, in Wuyi County, Jinhua City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Feb.1, 2025. (Photo by Zhang Jiancheng/Xinhua)
Also, “Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble Exhibiting the Ideal Order of the Chinese Capital” was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List last year. The inscription of Beijing Central Axis on UNESCO’s listing is not an ending but a new start.
A series of measures has been implemented to retain the traditional touches of the Beijing Central Axis and its cultural heritage, in a bid to ensure that traditions remain vibrant in the modern world.
This photo taken on Aug. 12, 2024 shows the Drum Tower seen from the Jingshan Hill on the Beijing Central Axis on a sunny day in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)Tourists take a Beijing Central Axis sightseeing bus in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 15, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Xin)People watch an open-air movie at the Altar of the God of Agriculture located on the west side of the southern section of the Beijing Central Axis in Beijing, capital of China, June 1, 2024. (Xinhua)
HOSPITALITY, BOOMED TRAVEL
China’s booming tourism has created the buzzword “China Travel” on overseas social media, as many travelers shared their experience in China, which in turn inspired more people to visit China.
A lantern performance team parades at Hongcun Village, Huangshan City of east China’s Anhui Province, Sept. 15, 2024. (Photo by Shi Yalei/Xinhua)A visitor looks at a golden mask on display in the new building of Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Dec. 18, 2024. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)
The surge of “China Travel” excitement is ignited by China’s expanding visa-free policy and improved services for inbound tourists.
Guests visit the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province, Nov. 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)Foreigners learn to make traditional Chinese lacquered fans in Haikou, south China’s Hainan Province, July 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
With China’s increasing global importance, more people than ever before want to learn its language. Once many foreigners learned Chinese out of curiosity about the country’s rich history and culture. Today, they are obsessed with the Chinese language as China is not only the world’s second-largest economy but also a source of inspiration for innovations and breakthroughs.
Visitors experience Chinese calligraphy at the China Cultural Center in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Cao Yang)El Batoul Nejjaoui wearing a paper-cutting dress poses for a photo at an intangible cultural heritage exhibition center in Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Aug. 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)
Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan Founder & Chair, Global Silk Route Research Alliance
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance,
a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went
back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016,
working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
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