Zhongxin Wanghai, May 5 (Reporter Chen Jing) Fudan University disclosed on May 8 that the university's first UNESCO Chair Programme, "Living Heritage and Community Development", was officially inaugurated. Du Xiaofan, Director of the Research Center for Land and Cultural Resources of Fudan University and Professor of the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology, served as the chair chairman.
The unveiled Chair on "Living Heritage and Community Development" will unite more than 10 universities, cultural institutions and foundations from 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa and China, to focus on the protection and inheritance of living heritage and sustainable community development in underdeveloped regions in China and the world, and will carry out work in various fields such as scientific research, social practice, student training and cultural exchange.
Du Xiaofan and the center's team of teachers have conducted research footprints in more than 800 urban and rural settlements and cultural landscapes in all provinces and cities in China. Photo courtesy of the Research Center for Land and Cultural Resources of Fudan University
The UNESCO Chairs Programme is a networking programme launched by UNESCO in 1992 to promote knowledge sharing and cooperation among international universities and related institutions to address challenges and serve social development. More than 120 institutions in nearly 850 countries are currently participating in the network. Tim Curtis, Head of UNESCO's Living Heritage Division and Secretary-General of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, said that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the launch of the Chair on "Living Heritage and Community Development" is of great significance, and hoped that the Fudan University team will give full play to its innovative ability and collaborative spirit, maintain exchanges and cooperation with experts and institutions at home and abroad, and continuously promote the protection of living heritage. "The protection of living heritage is complex, and resolving the contradiction between heritage protection and the development of human society is a major issue." Du Xiaofan said that the establishment of the "Living Heritage and Community Development" chair has built an important platform for domestic and foreign experts, scholars, government officials, practitioners and community residents to carry out exchanges, cooperation, learning and mutual learning in the field of cultural heritage.
Jin Li, President of Fudan University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the "Living Heritage and Community Development" Chair will focus on exploring how different countries and regions, especially less developed regions, can better understand, protect, display and utilize heritage resources, enhance cultural self-confidence, promote social development, and contribute to China's rural revitalization strategy and UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals. Fudan University will use this as a platform to build a global living heritage and community development cooperation network, form an open and inclusive academic community, actively dialogue, seek consensus, and attract more experts and scholars at home and abroad to participate in academic research, talent training and social service work on cultural heritage, and jointly promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Du Xiaofan and the center's teaching team actively explored the methodology of cultural heritage and deeply cultivated the field of rural heritage. Photo courtesy of the Research Center for Land and Cultural Resources of Fudan University
In the 20s of the 90th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee proposed the concept of living heritage for the protection of World Heritage sites, aiming to emphasize the dynamic use and transmission of cultural heritage in local communities. The concept of living heritage is now not limited to World Heritage but extends to other heritage areas. Living heritage is particularly relevant to the community, as a heritage that retains its original or historical function.
It is understood that since 2015, as the director of the Land and Cultural Resources Research Center of Fudan University, Du Xiaofan and the faculty team of the center have jointly led students to start research in the direction of cultural heritage. From Shanxi, Fujian, Guizhou, Xinjiang, to Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Tibet... In the past 8 years, the team has covered more than 800 urban and rural settlements, cultural landscapes and cultural routes in all provinces and cities in China, and established 13 expert workstations and practice bases across the country. They actively explored the methodology of cultural heritage, deeply cultivated the field of rural heritage, deepened the research on the value of world heritage, participated in the preparation of a number of national key cultural relics protection units and heritage site protection and utilization plans, and published a number of cultural heritage-related works and reports.
It is reported that the international symposium on "Localization and Internationalization of Heritage Research" was held simultaneously. Based on their own experience in heritage protection, the chair partners, domestic and foreign experts and scholars discussed the concepts and methods of living heritage protection and community development on topics such as heritage community development, public policies, and participation channels. It is reported that in the future, the chair will continue to work with partners and sister universities inside and outside the United Nations to jointly work on the protection and inheritance of living heritage, promote community development, enhance cultural self-confidence, and strive to contribute China's strength to the protection and utilization of international heritage. (End)