China News Service, Beijing, March 9th: Build a "bridge" to allow more "encounters and smiles" between China and foreign countries

　　China News Service reporter Nie Zhixin

　　Discovering cultural symbols that are "both Chinese and global" and promoting encounters between China and foreign countries is something Shu Yong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts for the Advancement of Democracy, has been exploring for decades.

　　This kind of creative consciousness became even stronger after his sculpture landscape work "Silk Road Golden Bridge" frequently appeared on international occasions and became known to more people at home and abroad.

　　At the "Committee Channel" held during this year's National Two Sessions, Shu Yong proposed to promote the construction of cultural symbols in the new era, based on thinking about cases such as the "Silk Road Golden Bridge".

On March 7, the second "Member Channel" collective interview event of the second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The picture shows Shu Yong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts for the Advancement of Democracy, accepting an interview with the media.

Photo by China News Service reporter He Penglai

　　The "Silk Road Golden Bridge" is based on the ancient Chinese bridge Zhaozhou Bridge and is built using 20,000 artificial amber bricks. The bricks and stones are cast with dozens of handmade "national flowers" or "national flowers" or "national flowers" from nearly a hundred cities that are jointly building the "Belt and Road" countries. The "city flower" integrates Chinese cultural elements and world cultural genes, symbolizing the building of a bridge of understanding and cooperation between China and foreign countries.

　　"In Chinese and foreign cultural contexts, bridges, amber, and flowers all have positive connotations." Shu Yong said that with the help of this concrete bridge, human beings' goodwill to help each other can be conveyed, and the emotions of Chinese and foreign people can be connected.

　　After ten years of accumulation and precipitation, the "Golden Bridge along the Silk Road" has gradually gained a reputation and has become an iconic main attraction in some international conferences. Related derivatives have been invited to participate in exhibitions in Kazakhstan, Germany, Spain and other countries, including international dignitaries. visitors sign the amber brick.

　　Today, Shu Yong keeps two kinds of bricks on hand, one is a brick that builds the "Golden Bridge of the Silk Road" and symbolizes integration, and the other is a brick that forms a barrier to communication and symbolizes estrangement.

　　Shu Yong once conducted a "social experiment": he selected 1,500 hot words and phrases that best reflected the characteristics of Chinese culture and social development, and translated them into English through translation software.

Most of those translations are literal meanings and serious misinterpretations.

Shu Yong used a calligraphy brush to scribble them, embed them into bricks, and build them into walls to create an installation exhibition.

　　In his view, this is a "wall of separation" that is invisible to the naked eye but really exists, representing the dilemma of human communication in the context of globalization.

　　From this, he became even more convinced that to break down “walls”, “bridges” must be built. Visual cultural symbols have natural advantages in international communication and are a carrier to promote “encounter and smile” between different nationalities and cultures.

　　So, in the long history of Chinese culture, which symbols can not only represent China, but also be recognized by the world?

How to innovate, transform and promote on this basis to create a cultural symbol for the new era?

　　Many years ago, Shu Yong brought hundreds of symbols from China to foreigners in Times Square, New York, USA, such as the Great Wall, pandas, terracotta warriors and horses, statues of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Bruce Lee, etc.

He found that few people could identify more than ten.

　　In recent years, in his contacts with international friends, he found that in addition to traditional cultural symbols, modern Chinese symbols such as high-speed rail, new energy vehicles, and spaceships were mentioned more and more frequently.

His new sculpture "Boat of Destiny" is inspired by images such as dragon boats, arks, and spaceships. People of different skin colors paddle hard together, which represents mankind's journey to the other side in the same boat through thick and thin.

　　In his view, using scientific methods to screen and organize and establish a Chinese cultural symbol library is the first step.

Visual works need to be repeatedly displayed and used in diverse scenes at home and abroad to deepen public awareness before they can become true public symbols. This requires the participation of all-round and multi-level forces.

　　On the sidelines of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Shu Yong purchased a commemorative stamp album at his hotel and found that a stamp with the "Golden Bridge on the Silk Road" as the main image was also included.

He hopes that more such "bridges" can be built in the future to allow more "encounters and smiles" between China and foreign countries.

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