A delegation of cultural officials from nine Portuguese-speaking countries paid a two-day visit to Guangzhou to learn about the city's millennia-old history, revolutionary heritage and contemporary urban renewal on July 20.
The delegation visited the Site of the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Guangzhou Museum, the Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs Museum and the revitalized Yongqing Fang historic district. They also experienced intangible cultural heritage crafts and took a night cruise along the Pearl River.
The visit, organized to strengthen cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties between Guangzhou and Portuguese-speaking countries, offered the officials a firsthand look at how Guangzhou balances preservation with modernization.
For Luís Filipe Reis dos Santos, director-general of Portugal's Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries and head of the delegation, the visit held both personal and historical significance.
"It is so important to see the importance that Portugal has here in Guangzhou, Guangdong," he said, adding that the Portuguese-China connection is "very important." At the Guangzhou Museum, he was particularly moved by exhibits featuring Portuguese navigators.
"Sometimes when we talk in Portugal about these navigators, we don't feel the importance that we have for the world. But I find it here, in these fantastic photos, the importance that we have. I'm so proud of us."
He expressed a desire to continue strengthening the bond: "Guangzhou, Guangdong, is that connection in the 20th or 21st century, and we want to continue this connection further, as it is so important."
He also noted that "One Country, Two Systems" is unique in the world: the Macao Special Administrative Region, the only region where Chinese and Portuguese are both official languages in Asia. "Nothing brings us closer than language," said Santos, "it is precisely for this reason that we can continue to share and cooperate."
Maria Margarida Ferreira da Cunha Donas Botto de Carvalho, director of Portugal's Jerónimos Monastery and Belém Tower Authority, echoed the sentiment of growing mutual understanding.
"Many Chinese come to Portugal to visit our monuments and history. So, there's a lot more knowledge between our two countries than there was before," she said. She credited technology and modernization with fostering closer ties. "I think technology and all the modernization of China is helping us get together and know each other a lot more."
The delegation's visit to Yongqing Fang, a historic old-town lane renovated to preserve traditional Lingnan architecture while introducing modern shops and greenery, impressed Carvalho with its integration of old and new.
"It is a very historical and very ancient town, and it turns out to be a good surprise for me, because it blends a lot of ancient and colonial architecture with very modern architecture," she observed.
Carvalho reflected on China's approach to development and preservation: "I think China is trying to preserve what is left from the previous civilizations. And we can learn a lot from ways of building a new civilization, more technological, more modern and more focus on the future."
The trip builds on Guangzhou's longstanding sister-city relationships with seven cities in Portuguese-speaking countries, including Recife and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Coimbra in Portugal and Praia in Cape Verde. As Santos put it, "In the end, in the world we find similar things." His remarks reflected the spirit of the visit, which reaffirmed a shared commitment to cultural dialogue and cooperation that transcends time and distance.
Reporter | Guo Chuhua
Photo | Guo Chuhua
Video | Xu Anrui
