The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) was held in Beijing on October 17 and 18, 2023. The large landscape structure "Golden Bridge on the Silk Road" was presented as a cultural icon of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It has been displayed at BRF for three consecutive sessions. 

The "Golden Bridge on the Silk Road" structure was created by Hunan-born artist Shu Yong, also deputy president of the Kaiming Art Academy affiliated to the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD). As a cultural icon of BRI, this "bridge" has been printed on the commemorative stamps marking the 10th anniversary of BRI. Besides, it was displayed in a promo video of Beijing City for the third BRF which has been publicized to the world, and also at the Thematic Forum on People-to-people Connectivity.

Shu Yong presents the commemorative stamps to African friends at the Thematic Forum on People-to-people Connectivity of the 3rd BRF.

An African lady, called Rose, talked about her transnational marriage at the Thematic Forum on People-to-people Connectivity. She came from a distance of 8,000 km away from China, and has established a happy family here. Shu Yong presented the commemorative stamps marking the 10th anniversary of BRI to her. "You are a 'golden bridge' on the Silk Road. I present the stamps to you to appreciate your contributions to the exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations of China and Africa," Shu said.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of BRI, and also the 10th anniversary of the creation of the "Golden Bridge on the Silk Road". Inspired by China's renowned ancient Zhaozhou Bridge, the sculpture is made from more than 20,000 bricks, each of which features a different national flower of the countries involved in the BRI.

Shu Yong shows the commemorative stamps marking the 10th anniversary of BRI with his art installation titled "Golden Bridge on the Silk Road" as a central element.

A batch of porcelain miniatures of this "golden bridge" were arranged on the tables at this session of BRF, witnessing the strides on the path towards the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Before that, the structure had been displayed at the Milan Expo 2015, and then returned to make a domestic debut on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing. It was adopted as a landmark at many important international events such as BRF, Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and the first Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. It has made its presence on the morality and socialism history coursebooks of middle schools as well as the Party theory study books published by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

In September 2023, the structure has been adopted as an art installation on the commemorative stamps featuring the 10th anniversary of BRI which were issued by the China Post.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunantoday