In Xi’an, University Alliance of the Silk Road (UASR) has recently run a summer course entitled Han & Tang Civilizations in Museums and Legal Protection 2021. The course was jointly organized by UASR and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shaanxi Province and co-hosted by the Institute of Intellectual Property and the School of International Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU). It has attracted 42 students from Egypt, Philippine, Korea, the United States, Pakistan, Indonesia as well as China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
By tapping into museum resources in Xi'an, the course has created an amazing immersive and interactive cultural experience for all participants. At the Shaanxi Medical History Museum, the participants experienced therapies in traditional Chinese medicine, such as massage, acupuncture, cupping and moxibustion. At the Hanyangling Museum, they put on the Han-style clothing and learned about the Han etiquette culture. At the Shaanxi Qin Opera Museum, they watched the Qin opera performance by nationally-renowned actors and actresses such as Shao Ying and Li Qiong. At the Shaanxi History Museum, they got a glimpse of the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties from historical exhibits. At the Forest of Stone Steles Museum, they were deeply impressed by ancient Chinese stone carvings and calligraphy works. Ma Yi, an Egyptian student, said that he would like to contribute to cultural exchange between China and Egypt in the future.
The participants have also attended lectures by renowned experts and scholars, such as Liu Shuguang, Chairman of Chinese Museums Association, Jiang Bo, Vice Chairman of ICOMOS-CHINA, and Professor Ma Zhiguo, Dean of the Institute of Intellectual Property of XJTU, about cultural relics and museums in China, preservation of traditional Chinese medicine, underwater archaeology in China, Han and Tang civilizations and the Silk Road, as well as the legal protection of cultural creations in museums.
Participants in the course are from 13 universities, including Peking University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Xiamen University, Soochow University and Yunnan University. Since July 20, the course has been offered online for free to members of UASR.
