On December 7th, Silk Road School (SRS) co-organized the Forum of “Art and Culture along the Belt and Road (B&R):Youth Perspective”. Young scholars from countries and regions along the B&R such as China, the United States, Singapore, Mexico and India participated in this forum online and offline. Prof. Jiang Xiaoli, Deputy Dean of SRS and Deputy Dean of International College, moderated this forum.

Li Jiugao, Dean of International School and Sino-French Institute, and Deputy Dean of SRS, Wu Cong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Suzhou Campus, Jean-François Vergnaud, Dean of Sino-French Institute, and representatives of faculty attended the forum.

In his speech, Li mentioned that as next year will be the 10th anniversary of The Belt and Road Initiative, students of SRS from countries and regions along the B&R are working hard in the relevant research fields, explaining their understanding of the art and culture along the B&R from an academic point of view, especially their internal connection with China, and making important contributions to promoting exchanges and dialogues among different civilizations.

Afterwards, the representatives of international students from SRS gave keynote speeches, covering the culture of ancestral halls, the comparison between Chinese and Western traditional festivals, the influence of Buddhism on China, and the cultural factors in US diplomatic policy towards China.

Raghuvir Kelka from India, systematically reviews the effects of economic and trade exchanges along the ancient Silk Road on cultural exchanges between China and the West, especially in the dissemination of Buddhist culture; Lim Yinru from Singapore, takes the "ancestral hall", a cultural symbol shared by China and Singapore, as the entry point to explain the origin of the cultural heritage of China and Singapore; Carlos Ignacio Uc Herrera from Mexico, compares China's Tomb-Sweeping Day and Mexico's Day of the Dead from different dimensions, which reveals the different perspectives of Chinese and Mexican people on death; Clayton Michael Boylan from the US, systematically analyzes the cultural factors in US diplomatic policy towards China, and emphasizes its impact on society and people.

After the keynote speech, students seized this opportunity and asked questions to the representatives. The forum ended in a heated discussion.

Edited by: Molly Zhang