On September 17, the 2025 Silk Road Cultural Tourism Development Forum was held in Kunming. Representatives from cultural and tourism departments, media organizations and related enterprises from China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt and other countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" together gathered together to use culture and tourism as a media to talk about the bright future of mutual learning between civilizations.

In the context of globalization, cultural and tourism exchanges have been given new connotations of the times and have become an important means to enhance understanding and consolidate friendship.

Photo by reporter Huang Xingneng

The guests at the meeting said that the country jointly built the "Belt and Road" has a long history, splendid culture, rich tourism resources, and cultural and tourism resources are characterized by diversity and nationality. When people have a real sense of gain and happiness in tourism, the diverse civilizations and cultures intertwined in the "Belt and Road" can produce a collision of "beauty and beauty", and world civilizations have more forms of equal dialogue. Creativity-driven, empowered by technology, and renewed cultural and tourism integration with industries are issues that guests have discussed together.

Hu Yu, Secretary of the Party Committee, Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University and Dean of the Institute of Cultural Creative Development, emphasized that cultural heritage is the "water source" for the high-quality development of cultural and tourism. Today, "looking at culture" has become a prominent feature of contemporary cultural and tourism activities. The phenomenon of "museum fever" and "intangible cultural heritage fever" show that the public increasingly needs to acquire new knowledge and feel cultural connections through cultural and tourism scenarios. In the process of exploring cultural heritage resources, we must take into account and attach importance to the protection and inheritance of various cultural heritages, and follow the basic processes of research, protection, dissemination and development to effectively transform cultural heritage into cultural and tourism formats, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of cultural and tourism.

Cultural and creative industries are the vitality of museums. Wu Di, director of the Cultural and Creative Department of the Palace Museum and chairman of Beijing Palace Museum Cultural Development Co., Ltd., introduced that the Palace Museum has launched nearly 20,000 cultural and creative products. Among them, a series of stamp cultural and creative products such as the "Taihe" theme zodiac New Year stamps not only set off a philatelic craze, but also drive the development of China's postal industry. In addition, the Palace Museum's overseas cultural and creative travel plan has also received positive responses from many countries such as Egypt, Singapore, France, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates.

Faisal Malik, chairman and editor-in-chief of the Pakistan Observer, took the Karakoram Highway as an example to tell the contemporary inheritance of China-Pakistan friendship. This highway, jointly built by the people of China and Pakistan and known as the "world miracle", has turned the natural barrier into a thoroughfare. It is now integrated into the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, bringing new opportunities for cultural and tourism cooperation between the two countries. "The Bahai-China Economic Corridor is rooted in the two countries' deep understanding of each other's lifestyle, cultural traditions and value systems." He said that Pakistan and China have continued to make efforts through pragmatic measures such as joint cultural festivals, art exhibitions and academic exchanges, and the "Bahai-China Cultural Year" and "Bahai-China Tourism Exchange Year" have tightened the cultural ties. "Deepening cultural and tourism cooperation is natural," said Faisal Malik.

Photo by reporter Huang Xingneng

"A flower blooms alone, but it is not spring, but a hundred flowers bloom in the garden." Nina Nichiborova, deputy editor-in-chief of Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek Evening News, quoted this Chinese proverb to interpret the true meaning of mutual learning among civilizations. She mentioned that China-Kyrgyz archaeologists jointly studied the cooperation between the Silk Road sites, and believed that the continuous expansion of cooperation between the two countries vividly verified that different cultures, concepts and civilizations can only enrich each other through mutual learning and harmonious coexistence, and can truly burst out and open up the road for common development and prosperity of mankind.

In recent years, a series of bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms in the field of cultural tourism have been established. The exciting cultural exchange activities such as the Cultural Year, Art Festival, and Film Festival have continued to heat up "China Travel" and "China Shopping", while cultural and tourism exchanges across national borders have also achieved fruitful results. From January to August this year, Yunnan Province received nearly 5.6 million inbound tourists, a year-on-year increase of 40%. "There is a kind of life called Yunnan" is attracting more and more people to go there, and "traveling in Yunnan" has become a new fashion; China National Grand Theater initiated the launch of the World Theater Alliance, and 43 institutions from 22 countries have become members of the alliance, more than half of which are institutions to jointly build the "Belt and Road" countries; Kyrgyzstan has set up 4 Confucius Institutes in China, and the "Luban Workshop" project is implemented to cultivate engineering and technical talents... Behind these numbers is a true portrayal of the mutual understanding of the people and a warm footnote to the mutual learning of civilizations.

"We look forward to more regional initiatives and projects that reflect the spirit of the Silk Road and serve future generations in contemporary forms to take root." The expectations of Dena Jamil, director of Egypt's State Television II, convey everyone's common voice. This thousand-year Silk Road is continuing to write a touching story of mutual learning between civilizations and mutual understanding among the people in a new way.

Yunnan.com reporter Huang Yixian Zhu Hai