On Dec 10, 2018, the China-Australia Cross-Culture Management Symposium, or the launch event of the China-Australia Artistic and Cultural Exchange Report was held at the Jingshi Hall of the Beijing Normal University.

 

China-Australia Cross-Culture Management Symposium was held at the Jingshi Hall of the Beijing Normal University

 

Scholars and experts from universities and institutions attended the symposium, including Professor Ruth Rentschler from the Management School of the University of South Australia, Professor ZHU Ying from the Asia Business Center of the University of South Australia, Li Cheng, student representative of the University of South Australia, Sun Zhenjiang, senior researcher with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of PRC, leadership of the International Exchange and Cooperation Department, School of Economics and Business Administration, School of Arts and Media of the Beijing Normal University, Sun Dandan, artist and scholar based in Beijing and varied media.

 

Sun Zhijun, secretary of the party committee of the School of Economics and Business Administration addressed the audience at the opening ceremony and extended his warm welcome to the guests on behalf of the School. The year of 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of relationship between China and Australia. The School launched the research project of China-Australia Artistic and Cultural Exchange together with the Business School of the University of South Australia in June of 2017. The aim of the project is to do research on the development of Australian culture in China and analyze the problems, challenges and opportunities lying in the bilateral cultural exchanges. The project was also supported by the governments of both countries. With the efforts of the research groups in both countries, now the Report in English and Chinese versions are completed.

 

Sun Zhijun, secretary of the party committee of the School of Economics and Business Administration addressed the audience at the opening ceremony

 

Professor Ruth Rentschler gave a keynote speech at the symposium. She introduced the difference between the cultural industry in China and that in Australia and pointed out that the Asia Pacific area is a large cultural and innovative industry zone and market which can produce a volume of 740,000,000 US dollars and provide 12,700,000 employment opportunities for people. In China, culture is a strategic industry and the cultural innovative and entertainment industries are developing rapidly. She also introduced the varied types of artistic and cultural exchanges, e.g. music, dance and painting as well as artistic facilities like galleries and museums. Professor Ruth Rentschler analyzed the difference between “Exchange” and “Engagement” and shared some failed or successful cases about China-Australia cross-cultural exchanges. According to the research Report, in the artistic and cultural exchanges between China and Australia, cultural understanding accounts for the most (21%) and traditional cultural is essential in the exchanges. The biggest challenge is the feasibility of capitals and funding and language is also a barrier in the exchanges. She proposed her resolutions towards these problems and challenges, for example, establishing a bilateral mechanism as a way of guiding the bilateral cultural exchanges; cultivating audiences so that to expand the market; enhance cooperation and marketing.

 

Professor Ruth Rentschler, director of the Management School of the University of South Australia, gave a keynote speech at the symposium

 

Sun Zhenjiang, one of the researchers of the project shared his views on how Chinese arts, especially painting deal with the problems including tradition and modern, localization and internationality, etc. He is concerned that to inherit and enrich the traditional Chinese culture, fresh content from the new era should be added to it and absorbing the good parts of different cultures is a necessity. However, the absorbing should be distinguished in terms of usage and essence. To make it, the main body of the culture should be strong and confident enough. In the meantime, he also believed that Australia is a melting pot of diverse cultures due to the fact that it is an immigration country. Its diversity, richness and openness are admirable for China.

 

Sun Zhenjiang, senior researcher with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of PRC delivered a speech at the symposium

 

Wang Zilin, one of the Chinese student representatives engaged in the project made a detailed introduction of the research methods and process.

Wang Zilin, one of the Chinese student representatives in the project made a speech

 

At the time of free discussion, the presented warmly expressed and shared their opinions with each other. Zhao Xiangyang, associate professor of our School emphasized that sociology, anthropology should be adopted to observe and record the phenomenon during the cross-cultural exchanges. He hoped to expand the Chinese management cultural map to reflect the different cultural types of different countries and enhance mutual understanding. Sun Dandan, a Chinese artist of Chinese painting hoped to know more about the culture and history of the aboriginal people in Australia so that she can employ those valuable elements into her creations.

 

At the time of free discussion, the presented expressed and shared their opinions with each other.

 

Li Jiang, associate professor of the School of Arts and Media of BNU also spoke at the symposium. In his opinion, culture contains a broad connotation including history, geography, customs, religion, tradition, literature and artistic thinking patterns, values and aesthetics value, etc. Today, the world is more diverse, internationalized and globalized. People from different places are even more eager to communicate, exchange and interact with each other, hence a better development of local cultures. Cultures should respect, trust and exchange with each other and art is a common language of human beings which can resolve the difficulties in the communication and exchange. Methodologically, transmitting classical culture from the above to below is not sufficient. A more equal perspective is needed to increase engagement of ordinary people to facilitate exchange and understanding.

 

Li Jiang, associate professor of the School of Arts and Media of BNU spoke at the symposium

 

In the end, ZHU Ying, professor of the University of South Australia concluded the symposium with his speech on the problems of China-Australia artistic and cultural exchanges. He analyzed the organizational problems, economic effects, and market and engagement aspects and put forward his visions and schemes on the marketing ability and organization trainings. He also stressed that the Australian culture is a diverse one, which refers not only to the culture of the white people. The culture of the aboriginals should also be paid great attention.

 

ZHU Ying, professor of the University of South Australia concluded the symposium with his speech

 

This symposium is a subsequent of the published English version of the China-Australia Artistic and Cultural Exchange Report . The analysis and discussion by scholars and experts from both countries made the symposium productive and fruitful. They found the problems, analyzed the challenges and outlined the blueprint of the China-Australia artistic and cultural exchange and looked forward to a better development of the project.