Over the past five years since the "Silk Roads: Route Network o f Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor" project had been successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, Shaanxi had fulfilled its international commitments, promoted exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, increased heritage protection and management, and rational and appropriate development and utilization. The "Silk Roads" heritage had become a model for strengthening the protection and management of cultural relics. With the goal of promoting exchanges among civilizations, Shaanxi took the initiative to participat in the overall initiative, an d used cultural heritage as a “business card of Shaanxi” to play a positive role in promoting the "Belt and Road Initiative". Over the past five years, Shaanxi had held 45 domestic and overseas exhibitions, organized 24 exhibitions (including 5 co-organized exhibitions) and introduced 21 exhibitions to 11 "Belt and Road Initiative" countries and Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR as well as Taiwan region. In June 2016, the "Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Photo Exhibition" was held at the National Museum of Kazakhstan , which was the first time that Shaanxi had held an exhibition with a Central Asian country. In June 2017, for the first time, an exhibition of “Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin First Empero of China” was held at the National Museum of K azakhstan. President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President Hamid of Bangladesh, President Vējonis of Latvia and other heads of state visited the exhibition. In August 2018, the "Exhibition of Royal Gold Wares of Wanli Period, Ming Dynasty” was held in Slovenia, an exchange exhibition sponsored by a non-state-owned museum in Shaanxi Province. In November 2017, Shaanxi, together with Kaza khstan and Kyrgyzstan, held the "World Heritage Silk Road" exhibition in Hong Kong SAR, becoming the first "Silk Roads" theme exhibition and won the "International and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Cooperation Award" selected by "Top Ten Exhibitions in National Museums". In May 2018, the Tang Dynasty W est Market Museum introduced Kazakhstan's "Exhibition of Early Nomadic Culture on the Eurasian Prairie", which was the first exhibition of precious Kazakh cultural relics in Shaanxi. At the same time, Shaanxi sent its cultural heritage conservation and archaeological technical teams to carry out archaeological work in Central Asian countries, promoted transnational cooperation, and built bilateral and multilateral exchange mechanisms and cooperation platforms. In 2015, Shaanxi and Kazakhstan carried out archaeological cooperation at the sites of the ancient city of Rabat, and signed a “Memorandum of Understanding on Exchange and Cooperation in the Field of Cultural Heritage” with the Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Sports. In 2016, the “Memorandum of Cooperation on Joint Affairs” was signed with Kazakhstan to reach a consensus on archaeological research at the ancient city of Rabat in the country. In 2017, the archaeological team went to Kazakhstan to investigate heritage sites covering an area of about 510000 square meters. In October 2017, a delegation of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology went to Kyrgy zstan to carry out archaeologi cal cooperation and s igned anarchaeological cooperation agreement with Kyrgyzstan to investigate 10 ancient cities in the Chu River and Thalas River in the country. The ruins of City of Suyab, Balasagun City and City of Nevaket along the "Silk Road" were investi gated. In 2018, Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated a Buddhist temple site on the west side of the ancient city of Honghe River in the country. For the first time, accurate mapping of the site of the ancient city of Honghe River was car ried out and phased results were achieved, and relevant archaeological excavations in the country in 2019 are still on going. Shaanxi organized colleges and universities to actively participate in archaeological excavations and research in Central Asia, and Northwest University has signed a "Cooperation Agreement" with the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. In 2016 and 2017, the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Heritage Conservation and Archaeology and the Tianshui City Museum jointly carried out rescue excavations at the No. 1 cemetery in Rabat. Shaanxi had continuously expanded its business exchanges with countries along the "Silk Roads" in the field of cultural heritage protection, and jointl y promoted project cooperation in many fields, such as cultural relics protection, scientific research, personnel training, and so on. Since 2015, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage Conservation had sent four groups of experts to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and other places to carry out Heritage Conservation cooperation projects. It participated in the Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Museum Exh ibits held in Tajikistan and reached a number of cooperative intentions. In 2016, the Shaanxi Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted the Forum for Cultural Heritage Protection and Cooperation of Countries along the "Belt and Road Initiative" on behalf of the provincial government, and the Provincial Archaeological Research Institute signed cooperation agreements with scientific research institut ions in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries. In May 2018, Shaanxi held an "International Forum on the 'Silk Roads' from an Archaeological Perspective" to publish the "Xi'an Consensus on International Silk Roads Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection" and promoted the "Silk Roads" cultural heritage to inscribe on the World Heritage List. In September 2018, the Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted the "2018 Silk Road Cultural Heritage Protection and Utilization Science and Technology Cooperation Forum and Exhibition" in Xi'an, which expanded the horizons of Shaanxi cultural heritage and promoted foreign exchange s and cooperation to make a useful exploration and practice. The Tang Dynasty West Market Museum had established friendly relations with 21 museums in 15 countries of "Belt and Road Initiative." Its membership had increased to 65, involving 16 countries along the route, and five entry and overseas exhibitions had been held. The "Friendship Alliance" had been incorporated into the construction of Xi'an Free Trade Zone in Shaanxi Province. |
