Maria Cheang Ut Meng in Qufu
Macau’s 11-member English- and Portuguese-language media delegation, organised by the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), arrived yesterday evening in Qufu, the birthplace of philosopher Confucius (c.551-c.479 BCE), by highspeed train from the port city of Qingdao in Shandong province.
Earlier yesterday, the journalists, accompanied by Liaison Office officials Lúcia Deng and Han Chao and Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) official Elena Au Son Wa, visited Qingdao’s Temple of the Queen of Heaven, aka Tianhou Palace, St. Michael’s Cathedral built by German missionaries in the early 1930s, and the German Governor’s House Museum, where many senior Chinese and foreign leaders stayed including Mao Zedong.
During their two-day stay in Qufu, the delegation will attend the 10th Nishan World Civilisation Forum.
The forum, which opens this morning, will be held in Qufu, Shandong province, today and tomorrow.
According to a China Daily report, the Information Office of the Shandong Provincial People’s Government held a press conference at the main venue of the Nishan Forum yesterday to brief domestic and foreign journalists on preparations for the event “and to introduce the achievements and results of previous forums”.
Themed on Traditional Culture and Modern Civilizations, the forum will feature six sub-topics, two keynote speech sessions, one top dialogue, 12 sub-topic dialogues and seven parallel forums, according to the report.
Among the six sub-topics are Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilisations amid Global Challenges, and Civilisations and Contemporary Society in the “Axial Age”.
According to Wikipedia, the “Axial Age” refers to broad changes in religious and philosophical thought that occurred in a variety of locations from about the 8th to the 3rd century BCE.
The Nishan Forum on World Civilizations was founded in 2010. This year’s event will be co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the International Confucian Association, and the People’s Government of Shandong Province.
The delegation includes eight local journalists: Carlos Morais José (Hoje Macau), José Encarnação (O Clarim), José Matias (Macau Business), Maria Cheang Ut Meng (The Macau Post Daily), André Jegundo (TDM Rádio Macau), Joana Freitas (TDM TV), Un Hoi I (TDM TV), and Agostinho Poon Fernando (TDM TV).
The delegation is scheduled to return to Macau on Friday.
Members of Macau’s media delegation yesterday visit the room of the former German Governor’s House where Mao Zedong used to stay when visiting Qingdao. The mansion is now a museum. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
