"I teach Azerbaijani Language at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. The university offers courses in 101 languages, which is the most in China and rarely seen in the world. " Agshin Aliyev, PhD, Head of the Azerbaijani Language Department at the School of Asian Studies of the university, told a GDToday reporter at the 2023 Beijing Culture Forum on September 14.
"This means China puts a high value on different cultures around the world," Aliyev added, "We promote mutual learning among different civilizations through languages."
After living in China for 22 years, Aliyev has witnessed the cultural development in China over the past two decades. He believes that openness and inclusiveness are the most prominent future of modern Chinese culture, and also the main development trend of cultural undertakings. He also pointed out that both China and Azerbaijan share the similarity of being open and inclusive, having different cultures, languages and ethnic groups, as well as supporting cultural diversity.
Although this was the first time that Aliyev attended the Beijing Culture Forum, he found that the forum was a new platform where experts and scholars from different countries can have in-depth exchanges and get a deeper understanding of both the traditional and modern culture of China.
Reporter: Monica, Holly
Video: Qin Shaolong, Jimmy
Editor: Wing, Olivia, Nan, James
