China News Service, Qufu, Shandong, September 29 (Lv Yan Lee Mingrui) "Being at the forefront of the intersection of diverse civilizations, overseas Chinese shoulder three missions of the times: mutual learning among civilizations is the way forward, joint establishment of order is the foundation, and mutual respect for justice is the foundation." Yu Junwu, chairman of the Australian Federation of Chinese Cultural and Art Circles (ACLA), said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Network on September 28 that the three complement each other and are organically unified, forming the value pursuit and mission of overseas Chinese in the new era.
The 2026 Nishan World Civilization Forum with the theme of "Civilization, Order, and Justice" is being held in Qufu, Shandong, the hometown of Confucius. During his participation in the forum, Yu Junwu said that when he arrived in Australia in early 1987, the language environment and social structure were all starting from scratch, but cultural beliefs were always an undying spark in his heart.
The picture shows Yu Junwu. Photo provided by interviewee
From the establishment of the Australian Chinese Cultural and Art Circles Federation in 1990 to the official launch of the Sydney China Star Art Troupe in 2014, Yu Junwu, who has been deeply involved in overseas cultural fields for nearly 40 years, has increasingly realized that civilizations are colorful through exchanges and enriched by mutual learning. There is no one-size-fits-all civilization model in the world. Each civilization is rooted in its own historical soil and has its own unique value and contribution.
Yu Junwu said that overseas Chinese should uphold the civilizational concept of "each has its own beauty, the beauty of others, and the beauty of beauty is shared": they do not seek uniformity and unification, but seek harmony without difference; they do not seek one-way export, but only two-way nourishment; they do not seek to be closed and entrenched, but insist on open innovation.
According to Yu Junwu, Sydney Huaxing Art Troupe promotes the standardized development of the community through organizational construction, unites people with lofty ideals who love China's excellent traditional culture, and promotes overseas cultural undertakings from sporadic and spontaneous to normal coordination. As of now, the art troupe has 57 art groups and more than 2,000 members. It has established a professional operating mechanism and formed a pattern of "professional leadership, popular participation, and public welfare development" to lay a solid foundation for the harmonious development of diverse communities.
"The integration of civilizations cannot be separated from a healthy order, and the construction of order cannot be separated from cultural infiltration and consensus building." In Yu Junwu's view, culture is the deep link that condenses social consensus and builds a civilized order. It can nourish people's hearts with culture, gather consensus with activities, and establish norms with organizations, so that people from different backgrounds can coexist in harmony and move forward hand in hand with common value recognition.
These concepts are not empty talk, but run through Yu Junwu’s concrete practice over the years. In 1988, Yu Junwu rehearsed "Thunderstorm", switching to dialect performances to suit the Cantonese-speaking Chinese community, and realizing cultural implementation with sincerity and respect; in 2006, "Flying Songs in the Liord" landed at the Sydney Opera House, and Chinese opera debuted in Australia's mainstream art hall for the first time and was broadcast live globally, allowing the charm of the East to transcend mountains and seas; in 2013, the team collaborated with the National Theater of China on the bilingual opera "Butterfly", which became a model of the integration and mutual learning of Chinese and Western arts...
Looking back on nearly 40 years of overseas work, from rehearsing plays in a parking lot to appearing on the stage of the Sydney Opera House, Yu Junwu is deeply moved. In his view, mutual learning allows civilization to thrive, co-construction allows communities to live in harmony, and only by adhering to justice can we achieve steady and long-term progress. He said that in the future, he will continue to use culture as a bridge, gather strength with sincerity, and stand up for justice, continue to be an envoy of communication between Chinese and foreign civilizations, and promote exchanges, mutual learning, and symbiosis and prosperity between Chinese and foreign civilizations. (over)
