The 1^st Strategic Dialogue on Cultural Policies among Chinese, Japanese and South Korean Think Tanks & the 4^th Chinese Postdoctoral Culture Development Forum kicked off in Shanghai University on November 13. The 4-day forum was themed as “cultural development under the new economic normality”.  It was sponsored by CASS, National Postdoctoral Management Committee and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, organized by Shanghai Academy, the Postdoctoral Management Committee of CASS, the Postdoctoral Workstation of the Institute of Philosophy of CASS and the Chinese Culture Research Center, and co-organized by the School of Social Sciences of Shanghai University.

At the opening ceremony, Zhang Guanzi, Director of the Personnel Bureau of CASS, noted in his speech that China’s economic development has entered a “new normality”. These new normal economic conditions will change the macroeconomic environment and conditions for cultural development, and create new opportunities and challenges for the development of Chinese culture. Relevant issues, particularly the major practical issues and policy issues about cultural development amid the new economic normal, have become the objects of academic study as well as topics of discussion at the forum. Wang Limin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Philosophy of CASS, and Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, each delivered speeches; Ouyang Guangming, Vice President of the School of Social Sciences of Shanghai University, made a speech on behalf of Shanghai University; Professor Xiong Chengyu, Director of the National Research Center of Cultural Industries at Tsinghua University and Director of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication, Kazuo Fujino, Professor with the Department of International Culture in Kobe University, and Choi Young-Sam, Director of the Bureau of Cultural Diplomacy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, gave lectures respectively on behalf of Chinese, Japanese and South Korean think tanks.  The opening ceremony was chaired by Ji Weimin, Director of Secretariat of Shanghai Academy, sponsor of the forum.

The meeting included two parts.  In the 3-day strategic dialogue among think tanks kicked off on November 14, the experts from Chinese, Japanese, South Korean, German and Russian think tanks had discussions on the issues related to the “cultural capital of East Asia” and exchanged views on the concept, values, practical issues and policy trends pertaining to the “value of East Asia culture capital”.

In the postdoctoral cultural forum kicked off on November 15, Chinese, Japanese and South Korean guest speakers discussed policy innovation in the cultural industry in Shanghai Free-Trade Zone, and attended post-doctoral roundtable meetings in five groups. While the experts and scholars held a summit themed as the “main systems of the promotion law for the cultural industry and promotion measures”, the postdoctoral adademics organized a summit themed as the “cultural development under the new economic normal”.

The forum invited more than 120 attendees, including 40-plus experts and scholars from CASS, Shanghai Academy, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, Shanghai University and other circles, and 14 experts from Japan, South Korea, Germany and Russia, leaders from the National Postdoctoral Management Committee and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, as well as postdoctorates dedicated to cultural development research from domestic universities and scientific research institutes.