【Eurasia Times, Jingdezhen／Reporter Wang Zilong】On October 19, the main forum of the 2026 Jingdezhen Forum was held under the theme “Dialogue between World Heritage and Civilizations,” the first high-level civilizational dialogue gathering held since the “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Heritage” was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Chen Kelong, Party secretary of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, delivers a welcome address

Chen Kelong, Party secretary of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, delivered a welcome address. He said Jingdezhen is a thousand-year porcelain capital known at home and abroad, one of China’s first national famous historical and cultural cities, a World Capital of Handicrafts and Folk Arts, and China’s only pilot zone for the inheritance and innovation of ceramic culture. For hundreds and thousands of years, Jingdezhen porcelain has sailed far along the Maritime Silk Road and been sold across the seas, becoming an important envoy for exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations. As a newly inscribed World Heritage city, Jingdezhen will join hands with heritage cities and cultural protection organizations around the world to jointly promote the protection, inheritance and innovation of cultural heritage, safeguard a diverse cultural ecology, deepen global dialogue among civilizations and actively build platforms for cultural exchange, making a positive contribution to promoting people-to-people connectivity among countries and building a community with a shared future for mankind. In his remarks, Norman, Malaysia’s ambassador to China, said that Melaka and George Town and Jingdezhen together show different, complementary dimensions of cultural exchange, a reminder that cross-regional exchange conveys not just goods but also knowledge, artistic inspiration and fresh perspectives on seeing the world. Malaysia likewise highly appreciates and welcomes the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China; these principles are highly consistent with the spirit of World Heritage — recognizing the contributions of different cultures and working together to protect the fruits of civilization created by humankind.

The scene at the 2026 Jingdezhen Forum

Cui Shixin, Party secretary of the All-China Journalists Association, said the association is China’s national professional body of the press, keeping wide contact with journalists in China and around the world. Jingdezhen is Jiangxi’s pride and a calling card of Chinese civilization. He proposed taking heritage as the medium to be vivid storytellers of dialogue among civilizations; taking truth as the foundation to be objective and rational joint guardians; taking exchange as the bridge to be practical promoters of media cooperation; and taking innovation as wings to be pioneers of communication in the digital age — telling the story of Jingdezhen, of Jiangxi, of China, and of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations of all countries with care and feeling. Chang Bo, director of the China International Communications Group, said that for hundreds and thousands of years, Jingdezhen porcelain, as an important vehicle for Chinese civilization to reach the world, has helped the world know and understand China. This forum is of great significance for carrying a splendid civilization and passing on history and culture: we must protect historical relics and also pass on the craft wisdom, cultural traditions and spiritual values they contain; we must safeguard the historical cultural lineage and also give traditional culture new meaning for the times.

Lu Xiaoqing, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee and head of its Publicity Department, delivers a speech

Lu Xiaoqing, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee and head of its Publicity Department, said Jiangxi has been fertile cultural ground with deep roots since ancient times, and in recent years has pushed deeper into linking and reviving distinctive Gan-Po cultures such as ceramics, academies and opera, with a number of foreign cultural exchange brands continuing to shine. Jiangxi will guard cultural treasures and lay a solid foundation for dialogue among civilizations, putting protection first and improving systems for the systematic protection and living transmission of ceramic cultural heritage; deepen dialogue among civilizations and build bridges of mutual learning and win-win outcomes, continuing to strengthen brands such as the Jingdezhen Forum and creating a high-end cultural exchange platform with global influence; and sound a strong note of the times and broaden paths for international communication, proactively adapting to the communication patterns of the digital-intelligence age and relying on new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and virtual reality to keep cultivating new cultural business forms.

The Jingdezhen Initiative is released

The “Jingdezhen Initiative” was formally released during the main forum. Focusing on the protection and transmission of World Heritage and on exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, the initiative aims to build global consensus on protecting ceramic heritage and to provide guidance for action on protecting and passing on ceramic cultural heritage worldwide. Representatives of World Heritage sites and sister cities at home and abroad — Chiang Mai Province in Thailand, Iznik in Türkiye, Rovaniemi in Finland, Talavera de la Reina in Spain, as well as Yinchuan in Ningxia and Xiamen in Fujian — signed it together.

Senior figures from overseas Chinese media and influencer bloggers attend the forum

Senior figures from overseas Chinese media and influencer bloggers took part in the forum and in the reporters’ Q&A of the roundtable dialogue. Wang Zilong, deputy editor-in-chief of Eurasia Times, and Zhu Tongjing, publisher of South Asia Online, put questions to Darika Techawang, director of the Bureau of Education, Religion and Culture of Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, and Ahmet Kaya, deputy mayor of Iznik, Türkiye, respectively, exchanging views on topics including international cultural exchange and cooperation.

The roundtable dialogue session

It is understood that this year’s forum, themed “Dialogue between World Heritage and Civilizations,” includes one main forum and four parallel forums, with more than 300 envoys to China, city representatives, experts and scholars, and intangible-heritage bearers from 25 countries invited. The four parallel forums are “Inheritance, Innovation and International Communication of Ceramic Culture in the New Era,” “Copyright Powering High-Quality Urban Development,” “The Contemporary Value of Handicrafts and Global Dialogue,” and “‘Gen Z’ and the Future of Heritage.” Accompanying activities include walking tours for international guests and an exhibition of World Heritage inscription practice results, together showcasing the results of Jingdezhen’s ceramic cultural heritage protection and innovative transformation.