Reporter: Shen Wengang

On August 18, famous historian Ge Jianxiong, Researcher at China Central Institute for Culture and History (CCICH), and distinguished senior professor of liberal arts at Fudan University, talks about the temporal and spatial evolution of the Yellow River culture via a video conference at the “Keep in Mind President Xi’s Entrustment and Welcome the 20th National Congress of the CPC – Symposium on Protecting, Inheriting and Promoting the Yellow River Culture”, saying that the Yellow River is the soul and root of the Chinese nation.

Ge holds that the Yellow River culture is basically equivalent to the Yellow River civilization, which is the sum total of all the spiritual and material wealth created by the Chinese nation in the Yellow River basin and areas along the Yellow River in the past 5,000 years and more. Since the early civilization of the Chinese nation, which later became the core and foundation of Chinese civilization, was formed and developed in the Yellow River basin, the Yellow River civilization is equivalent to the early Chinese civilization.

According to Ge, the Yellow River culture we are talking about today should encompass the material and spiritual culture that still exists, is still functioning, and is still emerging in the Yellow River basin and areas along the Yellow River. As for the Yellow River civilization formed in history, part of it has disappeared or has been transformed over time to become sites, relics or intangible cultural heritages.

Ge also states that civilization, as a cultural form, is free from the impacts of river basins or regions. Therefore, to promote the Yellow River culture, it is necessary to build a new Yellow River culture.

Production Editor: Cheng Jian