Chinese actor Zhang Guoli addresses at the forum. (Photo: Courtesy of the organizing committee)
Culture one of the 'important starting points'
In Shenzhen, a city known as a global technology and innovation hub in China, a talk, which focused on leveraging digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to integrate the diverse cultures of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and foster the development of a unified cultural community, was held on Tuesday at a forum on Building up China's Cultural Strength.
The Forum on Building up Cultural Strength and Promoting Digital Intelligence of the Greater Bay Area gathered professionals from cultural sectors and experts on diverse disciplines such as Wu Zhiliang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Liu Shuyong, a deputy chief editor of Hong Kong Chronicles Institute and renowned actor Zhang Guoli.
In their speeches, attendees, drawing on the ongoing digital technology innovations in the GBA, particularly in Shenzhen, explored topics such as how digital technology can support the development of a cultural community in the region. Their discussions touched on aspects including culture and spirits of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, theatrical arts, intangible cultural heritages and literary creation.
Within the context of the 80th anniversary of victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, the unveiling ceremony for the marker of the Guangdong people's anti-Japanese guerrilla force radio station site was held on Sunday in Sha Tau Kok, New Territories of Hong Kong, Liu Shuyong told the Global Times on Tuesday. The event was attended by dozens of participants, including representatives of youth groups, and descendants of a key anti-Japanese resistance force members in South China. Together, they paid a heartfelt tribute to the revolutionary martyrs who bravely sacrificed their lives during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Liu noted that such stories about resisting against aggression should be promoted as an important part of the culture of GBA through more diverse creative channels.
Wu suggested that digital technology, as a tool for promoting culture and resistance history, encourages the youth to use AI or other digital ways to express their feelings about the history or reconstruct the historical scenes in virtual world.
"In exploring shared values of GBA people, culture is one of the important starting points as we have a common cultural heritage and foundation in Lingnan culture. Now with the use of AI technology, this process can be greatly accelerated," Wu added.
In the GBA, Lingnan culture boasts a rich and profound history, encompassing five UNESCO Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage elements, including Cantonese opera, guqin (a traditional Chinese musical instrument), paper-cutting and tea art. Additionally, it features 165 national-level intangible cultural heritage items, such as the lion dance. According to a report by Yangcheng Evening News, these abundant cultural resources not only form the core tangible assets of Lingnan culture but also serve as a shared memory for the people of the region.
Diverse digital technologies have come into use to preserve and promote Lingnan culture to consolidate the foundation of cultural community of the GBA.
On March 28, the Lingnan culture big data center was inaugurated in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. By integrating cultural resources such as intangible cultural heritage, history and folk customs, the center has developed distinctive databases like the Lingnan dialect corpus and the Lingnan cultural gene bank to promote the digital protection and revitalization of cultural heritage. In the dynamically updated Lingnan cultural gene bank, a vast amount of Lingnan cultural data in the forms of text, pictures and videos are gathered. This will allow the establishment of connections and sharing with galleries, universities and museums, fully linking the cultural resources of the GBA.
"I'm a science fiction writer and want to describe the culture of the GBA through a common metaphor used in science fiction. The culture is like a young person who is far from mature but has never stopped growing," said Haiya, a Shenzhen-based sci-fi writer who won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2023, at the forum.
Attendees, including Haiya, are optimistic about the future of the GBA culture, which has never stopped growing with help of developing digital technologies.
