LONDON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Around 150 scholars, officials and representatives from the business, culture, education, and media sectors gathered in central London on Thursday for an event aimed at promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and Britain.
Hosted by China Daily under the theme "Listen to Each Other, Open New Horizons," the event called for closer people-to-people engagement and greater efforts to deepen mutual understanding through education, culture and personal exchanges.
Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said in a video speech that advances in transport and technology have dramatically shortened the physical distance between China and Britain, but genuine understanding between people still requires direct communication.
"In an era increasingly fractured by information bubbles, we need face-to-face communication to shatter preconceptions," Qu said, adding that people-to-people and cultural exchanges can help strengthen public support for friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Frances Wood, former head of Chinese collections at the British Library, shared how her decision to study Chinese at Cambridge in the late 1960s led to a lifetime of engagement with Chinese history and culture.
Wood recalled decades of cooperation between British and Chinese scholars to conserve, catalogue and publish thousands of Dunhuang manuscripts held by the British Library. Scholars and conservators from the two countries worked side by side to restore fragments that had remained largely untouched for decades.
Michael Spence, president and provost of University College London (UCL), highlighted education and research cooperation, saying trust remained at the heart of long-term collaboration between Britain and China.
According to Spence, UCL has more than 30,000 alumni and over 15,000 students with links to China, while researchers from the university and Chinese institutions have jointly produced more than 10,000 academic papers.
Citing cooperation in fields including cancer treatment, climate research, artificial intelligence and lunar science, Spence said universities can provide a space where people from different backgrounds build trust through shared study and research.
The event also featured discussions among young representatives on economic and trade cooperation, education and cultural ties, with participants sharing their experiences of studying, working and living across different cultures. ■