Her connection with Dunhuang began 16 years ago when she watched a performance of Dunhuang dance in her hometown in Russia’s Penza. The dance performance drew inspiration from the murals in the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Dunhuang, northwest China’s Gansu Province.
The thrilling performance piqued her interest in Dunhuang culture, and so she later travelled to China to study Dunhuang culture. This year, she was invited to an academic symposium on the global significance of Dunhuang Studies in the city.
“Culture can connect different countries, religions, and nationalities. My life is rich and colorful because it is connected by cultures,” she said.
She is not alone.
The study of cultural relics based on the Dunhuang grottoes and related documents has inspired the formation of an internationally distinguished discipline of Dunhuang studies since the cultural treasures of Dunhuang were rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century.
Dunhuang studies and the preservation of Dunhuang’s cultural relics have vigorously developed, and the ancient city with more than 2,000 years of history has gradually evolved into a world-renowned cultural and artistic treasure house.
With collaborative efforts of academic circles both at home and abroad, a wealth of outstanding academic achievements and a large number of international academic cooperation projects have emerged.
The protection of cultural relics in Dunhuang is also flourishing, securing the participation of an increasing number of young people and sci-tech professionals. Cultural relics protection technology and standards developed by the Dunhuang Academy are also assisting cultural relics preservation efforts beyond the region.
“Chinese civilization, represented by Dunhuang culture, has flourished for thousands of years, and one important reason is its continuous exchanges with other cultures,” said Zhao Shengliang, Party chief of the Dunhuang Academy.
Dunhuang culture is not only a popular academic topic but also a prevalent cultural label. It has an extensive fan base in China and abroad, particularly among young people.
According to statistics, the number of tourists visiting Dunhuang’s main scenic spots increased by nearly 30 percent this summer compared to the same period in 2019.
This tourist destination has made several social media headlines this year.
For instance, tourists may have to queue for hours to ride camels, and then line up to get across a desert crossroads, while people dressed in traditional costumes playing gods and goddesses from mural images are frequently seen in museums and scenic spots, garnering a lot of attention on social media.
In the meantime, an upgraded version of the Dunhuang dance Olga saw back home and an array of immersive performances based on Dunhuang art are well received in the city, while audiences were considerable during the peak season for tourists.
Local institutions and companies have developed creative cultural products, including brooches, refrigerator magnets, and bookmarks based on Dunhuang cultural elements such as nine-colored deer, flying apsaras, and caisson decorative patterns, which sell well in Dunhuang and online stores.
Dunhuang is also a golden business card for China’s fine traditional culture to facilitate international communication and dialogue among civilizations.
This year marks the sixth Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, which was founded in 2016.
More than 50 countries, regions, and international organizations took part in this year’s expo, with more than 1,200 guests from home and abroad attending a series of forums and exhibitions.
Olga is taking part in the expo for the third time.
Different forms and activities of exchange, such as theatrical performances, cultural trade, and cultural tourism experiences, in Olga’s opinion, are conducive to promoting people-to-people bonds in countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
As for the charm of Dunhuang, Olga sees her experience as a most eloquent example.
“My life is inextricably linked to Dunhuang culture,” she explained.
Xinhua Commentary: China’s vibrant drive for greater trade liberalization invigorates global services trade
by Xinhua writer Ma Qian
BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — China has long been wedded to bolstering services trade across the world, viewing it as a key component in the country’s growth strategy and international cooperation.
Through the lens of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), the world’s largest specialized fair of its kind, more international participants have witnessed China’s stellar growth in services trade, and the development payoff from its accelerated higher-level opening-up.
Particularly, the opening-up of the service sector serves the development pattern of the country’s domestic and international “dual circulation,” as China perceives trade liberalization and its institutional opening-up in a broader setting of economic globalization, regarding such endeavors as its striking demonstrations to uphold multilateralism.
Most notably, China’s domestic opening-up reforms are aligned with its deepened commitments to the international community, through offering growth-oriented policy agendas and facilitating robust commercial interactions, reducing uncertainty and injecting confidence into global businesses.
On the first day of CIFTIS on Sept. 2, Tesla unveiled its new version of Chinese-made Model 3 sedan, marking the first time the global car-making giant has launched a new model in China ahead of the United States.
President of Tesla China Wang Hao opined that a platform like CIFTIS is an excellent window for multinational enterprises to understand the Chinese market, as they can be well-informed of consumers’ thoughts in a short period of time and feel the market vibes up close.
In recent years, China has leveraged CIFTIS and other platforms such as the China International Import Expo to promote policy exchange and information sharing, as well as foster diverse partnerships with foreign governments, international organizations, business associations and enterprises.
That also forms an indissociable part of China’s pledge to help more countries share its far-reaching development dividends through trade liberalization and facilitation.
China had expanded its share of global commercial services exports from 3 percent in 2005 to 5.4 percent in 2022, according to a report jointly released by the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization in July.
In the first seven months of this year, China’s services trade value grew 8.1 percent year on year to reach 3.67 trillion yuan (501.8 billion U.S. dollars), data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.
In cross-border economic and trade practices, Mohammed Al Ajlan, chairman of the Saudi-Chinese Business Council, pointed out that China “continues to take the initiative to encourage the expansion of exports of knowledge-intensive services, and strengthen the cross-border flow of advanced technological services.”
That has “played a role in improving the industrial structure and promoting the process of modernization around the world,” he stressed.
As the world is saddled with weakening demand for goods and geo-economic fragmentation, there is an urgent need for the world’s policy-makers to cement collaboration to overcome obstacles that hinder global trade and investment across the board.
In this regard, the Chinese leadership has vowed to safeguard the hard-won free trade and multilateral trading system during the 2023 CITFIS, on the back of its vibrant drive to enhance openness of the services sector and ensure a more supportive business environment.
In practice, the authorities have deepened reforms in the country’s free trade zones (FTZs) to expand its globally-oriented network of high-standard FTZs.
On June 29, China’s State Council issued a circular, which contains measures of six aspects to allow FTZs in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing as well as the Hainan free trade port (FTP) as pilot forerunners to align their rules with high-standard international economic and trade rules to deepen institutional opening up.
The 33 detailed pilot measures proposed in the circular, mainly focusing on trade in goods and services, business environment and risk control, are expected to help the pilot areas explore more paths to deepen reform and broaden opening up.
With five measures directly related to facilitating customs clearance, the circular stressed the need to further improve the transparency of customs clearance time and reduce customs clearance costs.
Deeming a sound business climate a key determinant of greater gains from growing trade, China has offered easier entry conditions to foreign businesses. Noticeably, the authorities have streamlined administrative procedures and increased transparency in policy agendas with a set of significant reform measures, sending uplifting signals to the global business community.
The Ministry of Commerce canceled registration requirements for businesses engaged in foreign trade activities on Dec. 30, 2022, following a revision of the country’s Foreign Trade Law.
In concrete terms, market entities are no longer required to provide foreign-trade operator registration materials in applying for import and export licenses, registration certificates of technology import and export contracts, quotas, state-owned trade qualifications, and other relevant documents.
A recent survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China showed that China is still the most favored destination for corporate investment, as over 90 percent of the surveyed companies consider China as one of their most important investment destinations, while 75 percent of the participants said they plan to reinvest in China in 2023.
The dynamism of China’s services trade has brought various countries vast opportunities for export-led growth, inflows of foreign investment and further integration into global value chains.
China’s vigorous drive to boost services trade liberalization and facilitation will continuously inject impetus into cross-border trade, thereby contributing to more sustainable globalization and a more open world economy