On 1st September, the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, held by Zhejiang University and the Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) and organized by the Management Committee of Liangzhu Civilization, Hangzhou, was declared open at Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University. The Conference, attracting more than 400 participants from over 40 countries on five continents, has been the largest international academic event in the international heritage community so far.
He Lianzhen, Vice President of Zhejiang University, Academician Lucie Morisset, Chairman of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, and Chen Shoutian, Deputy Director of Management Committee of Liangzhu Civilization, delivered speeches respectively. Well-known experts and scholars from home and abroad and representatives from all walks of life attended the opening ceremony.
He Lianzhen expressed her congratulation to the opening of conference and her welcome to distinguished guests. She said global heritage research boom today is promoted by those innovative cross-border practices. Heritage represents a nation’s cultural tradition, a city’s historical spirit and a university’s humanistic exploration. The Biennial Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, comparable to the Olympic Games in the field of heritage, aims to transform and innovate cultural heritage research and practice, so heritage is not only a resource of cultural industry, but a carrier for social development and cross-cultural communication.
Lucie Morisset introduced the basics of ACHS. The first Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies was held in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2012. After six years, the Association now has about 3,000 members from 85 countries. She maintained the Conference will help people all over the world to go beyond existing discussions and respective cultures, strengthen contacts and acquire new knowledge.
Chen Shoutian held that experts and scholars would visit the Liangzhu Museum and participate in the International Symposium on Liangzhu Ancient City for the protection and utilization of cultural heritage during the Conference. It is an excellent opportunity to show ancient and modern China and promote international cultural communication. .
After that, Michael Rowlands, honorary professor of tangible culture at University College London, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Heritage Justice”. He is currently a joint researcher of “Cultural Value of Conflict: Southwestern China and Heritage” and chief investigator of the Digitized Dogon Heritage which is an Initiative of Joint Planning for Cultural Heritage. He believes the people’s enthusiasm to protect the heritage is as important as top-down national protection &intervention. Scholars who advocate the theories of new governance encourage the diversity of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and have proposed many initiatives. For example, the world is now committed to establishing new norms for the protection of cultural heritage in wartime; museums and other cultural spaces can be seen as an opportunity for cross-cultural dialogue to boost the enthusiasm of citizens to protect the heritage. Museums and other cultural spaces, with their links to local places, provide an empirical value based on specific circumstances. Professor Rowlands’s speech attracted interest and thinking from the participants.
The theme “Heritage across borders”, which shows global heritage research is prospering with a series of cross-border practices, indicates the boundaries among heritage forms (tangible and intangible), cultures (oriental and western), languages, regions (Asia, Europe, America, Africa, etc.), disciplines, industries and regions (villages and cities)are to be broken, and the interaction of different fields is getting closer and closer.
At the Second Biennial Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies held in Canberra, Australia in Dec. 2014, School of International Studies of Zhejiang University, on behalf of Zhejiang University, won the bidding for the host of the conference with 37 votes against 21 votes for the UK.
In the following 5 days, apart from 4 keynote speeches, the parallel sessions on 84 themes will showcase 560 speeches on heritage, including social governance, ethics, historical cognition, place spirit, urban-rural integration, intellectual property rights, gender generation gaps, and artistic representations. It will initiate the cross-border discussions between cities and villages, the East and the West, tangible and intangible heritage, past and present.
Written by JinYunyun and Photographed by Ma Yudan
Translated by Zhou Xingchen and Li Jia
Edited by Xu Xueying
