On September 17, the 2025 Yangtze River Civilization Forum was held in Chongqing. The forum is co-organized by the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Domestic and foreign experts talk about the inheritance of civilizations and discuss cultural exchanges together, and help the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the exchanges and mutual learning of world river civilizations around the forum theme of "Mutual Learning of Civilizations across the River".

The guests participating in the forum included experts and scholars from the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan and other countries who studied the world's great river civilizations such as the Nile River Basin, the Mesopotamia Basin of ancient West Asia, the Amazon River Basin, and the Indus River Basin. The guests gave speeches and exchanged on the themes of the protection and inheritance of Yangtze River civilization, the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the exchange and mutual learning of world river civilizations.

Compared with the previous two forums, this year's Yangtze River Civilization Forum was held internationally for the first time. Experts in the world's top three river basins and the two river basins, known as the cradle of human civilization, gathered in Chongqing to launch a collision of ideas across mountains and seas. This is a vivid manifestation of China's implementation of the global civilization initiative. By promoting equal dialogue, exchanges and mutual enlightenment in the world's great river civilization, the forum will further enhance the international influence and appeal of Chinese civilization and Yangtze River civilization, promote the common progress of great river civilization, and consolidate the humanistic foundation for jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The Yangtze River has been an open river since ancient times, and the Yangtze River culture is a flowing culture. Especially since the Tang and Song dynasties, the Yangtze River and the Maritime Silk Road have coexisted, becoming an important channel for exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and world civilization. Chongqing, as the largest riverside city in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, is located at the connection point between the "Belt and Road" and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It has always been an important window for dialogue between the Yangtze River civilization and the world.

In addition to the main forum, the 2025 Yangtze River Civilization Forum will also hold a series of cultural seminars and exchanges such as the 2025 Longgupo Site Academic Seminar and the 2025 World River Song Conference. Focusing on the theme of "Protecting the Yangtze River's cultural heritage and inheriting the thousand-year craftsmanship", the forum will release the intangible cultural heritage tourism map "Follow the intangible cultural heritage to travel to the Yangtze River" and hold a special exhibition "From Dunhuang to Dazu", showing the beauty of Chinese grotto art, allowing people to feel the thousand-year cultural charm of the ancient city of Chongqing and the vast Yangtze River.

(Central Channel reporter Guo Yan, Wang Kai, Yang, Wu Liming, Xie Peng)