China News Service, Lanzhou, November 4 (Yang Na) Ten years ago, the first Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo (hereinafter referred to as the "Dunhuang Cultural Expo") was held in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, the "Hometown of Feitian", and a dialogue between civilizations that spanned time and space and connected China and other countries began.
Ten years later, the 9th Dunhuang Cultural Expo, which opened on November 3, centered on the theme of "strengthening cultural exchanges and promoting mutual learning among civilizations" and promoted the countries co-building the "Belt and Road" to deepen practical cooperation in cultural heritage protection, literary and artistic exchanges, cultural tourism industry and other fields.
From showing the world the cultural charm of Dunhuang for thousands of years, to sharing the results of cultural heritage protection with the help of digital technology, to conducting exchanges and cooperation around common concerns... In the past ten years, the Dunhuang Cultural Expo has continuously expanded the connotation and boundaries of civilizational exchanges. Dunhuang is also moving from a window displaying Silk Road culture to an international dialogue platform that connects different civilizations and promotes exchanges and mutual learning.
The "Dunhuang Declaration" issued by the first Dunhuang Cultural Expo set the tone for the "cultural exchange" of the Expo. At that time, Dunhuang's rich historical and cultural heritage was an important business card that attracted the attention of the world. Ten years later, the role of the Dunhuang Cultural Expo is changing: it not only allows the world to see Dunhuang, but also allows Dunhuang to engage in more in-depth exchanges with the world through technology, culture and industrial cooperation.
This change can be felt in the exhibition hall of this Dunhuang Cultural Expo. In the main exhibition hall of 18,000 square meters, the "Model" and "Highland" Construction Achievements Exhibition of the Dunhuang Academy was listed as the first of the five major exhibitions in this CIIF. Different from previous years, this year the audience no longer just watches cultural relics through glass, but can use VR equipment to immerse themselves into the virtual scene of Mogao Grottoes. The "Dunhuang Discovery" project attracted many audiences to queue up to experience it.
What is even more noteworthy is the application of three-dimensional reconstruction printing technology - the "Bodhisattva Riding an Elephant" statue in Cave 165 of North Cave Temple was accurately copied to the exhibition stand, allowing the statue in the original cave to meet the audience thousands of miles away.
The significance of the application of these technologies is not only to allow cultural relics to be seen in a more vivid way, but also to allow the experience and results of cultural heritage protection to transcend geographical restrictions, providing new communication paths for different countries and regions to carry out cultural heritage protection, research and dissemination.
Deng Hongsen, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said that Dunhuang is a place where civilizations meet, where different beliefs, languages and artistic traditions blend and collide, and new achievements are born through exchanges and mutual learning. The Digital Dunhuang project is a model among them, vividly explaining how technology can help us protect and share mankind's precious treasures.
Outside the exhibition hall, this dialogue also has richer content. The 2026 Dunhuang Forum held during this CIIE has eight sub-forums, covering topics such as artificial intelligence empowering Silk Road narrative, Dunhuang medicine, and international communication of Dunhuang dance.
How does artificial intelligence provide new expressions for Silk Road stories? What cultural and academic value does ancient Dunhuang medicine contain that deserves further study? How can Dunhuang dance transcend language and cultural differences and move towards a broader international stage?
When the discussion gradually deepens from "why to communicate" to "how to communicate" and "how to cooperate", civilized dialogue also moves from the conceptual level to more concrete practical exploration.
At the same time, the dialogue content of the Dunhuang Cultural Expo is also extending from the cultural field to industrial cooperation.
At this Dunhuang Cultural Expo, activities such as investment promotion and negotiation for Gansu’s characteristic and advantageous industrial scenarios, investment promotion for the cultural tourism industry chain and the promotion of high-quality tourist routes, and the integration of “agriculture, culture, tourism, sports and health exhibitors” to promote consumption were launched simultaneously during the exhibition period, providing more realistic scenarios for the transformation of cultural exchange results.
Cultural exchanges and economic and trade cooperation have thus formed a closer connection - the Dunhuang Cultural Expo is no longer content to allow guests to learn about Dunhuang and experience Silk Road culture in the exhibition hall, but strives to extend exchanges to specific projects, industrial chains and consumption scenarios, allowing the cultural platform to carry more pragmatic cooperation content.
In the past ten years, the Dunhuang Cultural Expo has continuously expanded its function as a platform for people-to-people and cultural exchanges along the Belt and Road Initiative, and its significance has gradually transcended the exhibition hall and exhibition period itself.
From letting the world see Dunhuang to connecting the world with Dunhuang as a link, the Silk Road spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and mutual learning remains unchanged in the ten years of Dunhuang Cultural Expo. This dialogue between civilizations that spans thousands of years is moving from the exhibition hall to a broader reality, continuously injecting cultural momentum into the high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road”.
