The first Belt and Road Creativity and Sustainable Development Seminar was held in Beijing, from December 18 to 20, 2019, jointly organized by the School of International and Public Affairs and International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development under the auspices of UNESCO. 21 international students from our school, including 4 Ph.D. candidates and 17 master students, participated in this seminar. Cui Yue, assistant professor of SIPA, and Li Lin, student assistant of SIPA, participated in this training.
The Belt and Road Creativity and Sustainable Development Seminar is organized by the School of International and Public Affairs and International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development under the auspices of UNESCO. It focuses on themes such as creativity, design, science and technology, urban renewal and sustainable development. Through lectures, field research and other methods, the seminar shares China's exploration experience in the field of creativity and sustainable development with international students from BRI countries, deepens their understanding and cognition of the development of world and China, and jointly applies creativity to sustainable development.
On the morning of the 18th, Ms. Yang Baozhen, former consul in France and former senior project officer of the Canadian International Development Agency, gave a lecture on “Implementation by China of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which introduced China's major achievements in poverty alleviation, education, health, women's status, environmental protection, peace and justice, and international cooperation in recent years. Ms. Yang Baozhen pointed out that China is willing to share experience with developing countries and contribute to the early realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In the course of lecture, Ms. Yang cited a large number of vivid practical cases based on her own experience. After class, the students asked questions and had in-depth exchanges with Ms. Yang.
On the afternoon of the 18th, Qin Jingyan, professor of the Department of Industrial Design of University of Science and Technology Beijing, gave a training course on "Sustainable Innovative Design of Artificial Intelligence". Professor Qin introduced quantum innovative thinking around the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations in 2030. At the same time, she put forward 17 new goals for the use of integrated smart development of sustainable design by sharing a variety of cases related to product and service design such as smart agriculture and smart tourism. Through this course, it was confirmed that under the global community of human destiny and the cultural and economic community, artificial intelligence has a profound impact on sustainable development.
On the morning of 19th, Mr. He Songfei, an associate professor at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, lectured on the theme of Chinese cultural sustainable design. He Songfei introduced the achievements of China's development in the past 40 years since the Reform and Opening Up and the difficulties faced in the process of social development, and pointed out that we should find suitable solutions according to our own cultural context and development problems in the process of social and cultural development.
On the afternoon of 19th, Li Jiachen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Youcheng entrepreneur foundation for poverty alleviation, gave a lecture on the theme “exploring the Longtang Model of Rural Revitalization”. Ms. Li shared the concept and vision of the Youcheng entrepreneur foundation for poverty alleviation's rural revitalization project, and introduced the work content and development process of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization project in Longtang Village from the aspects of cooperative organization, industry construction, leisure tourism and community construction.
On the morning of the 20th, the foreign students visited the Beijing University Student Pioneer Park of Zhongguancun Software Park and communicated with the staff of Zhongguancun Software Park. The scene of interaction was very warm. In the afternoon, the foreign students visited the historical protection area of White Pagoda Temple and experienced the renewal and changes of Beijing.
At the same time, the school also organized foreign students to visit Beijing's historical sites and famous attractions, such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven Park, the Summer Palace, the outdoor scenery of the National Stadium and National Aquatics Center, Houhai and so on. Through this short-term sightseeing, the foreign students enjoyed the beautiful scenery, felt the customs of Beijing, and further deepened their understanding of Chinese culture and history.
After this training, the foreign students said that the training has brought them a lot of new knowledge and new feelings, and gave high praise to the training. Through this training, the foreign students not only recognized China's efforts in the process of creativity and sustainable development, but also enabled them to understand how to benefit from China's experience and how to grasp the opportunities provided by China's development model.
International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development under the auspices of UNESCO was established in November 2015. ICCSD becomes the world's first UNESCO Category 2 center with the theme of "creativity and sustainable development". With the support and guidance of UNESCO, the Center intends to build the world's high-level international platform that aims at creativity and sustainable development, and includes the functions of research, training, cooperation, communication, demonstration etc. The Center shall become a first-class think-tank gathering talents throughout the world, building a global renowned "laboratory of thoughts" with a focus on creativity and innovation. It shall promote cultural exchanges and cooperation, disseminate and support Chinese enterprises, technology and culture. On December 18, at the opening ceremony of the seminar, SIPA and ICCSD signed a cooperation agreement and unveiled the "Internship Practice Base for International Organizations of the School of International and Public
Affairs of Jilin University" and the "Training Base for Foreign Students of the School of International and Public Affairs of Jilin University".
