Sino-Australian Cultural Heritage Forum was held in Beijing Zhai Shaodong from October 10 to 11, 2012, Sino-Australian Cultural Heritage Forum was held at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IACASS), sponsored by IACASS and Australian Academy of the Humanities.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Professor Chen Xingcan, the vice-director of IACASS. Professor Wang Wei, the director of IACASS firstly made an opening speech. Then Ms. Zhou Yunfan, the vice-director of the International Cooperation Bureau, CASS, and Professor Du Jinpeng, the director of the Cultural Heritage Conservation and Research Centre, IACASS, respectively made a welcome speech. They not only expressed their attention to the unprecedented development of Chinese and international cultural heritage conservation in recent years, but also showed their worries about the problems on the cultural heritage conservation arose by the economic development. They also hoped that this forum could strengthen the exchange between the scholars from China and Australia, learn from each other and promote the development of Sino-Australian cultural heritage.

This forum took “the current situation and differences on Sino-Australian heritage conservation” as a theme. Five Australian scholars and nine scholars from Hongkong and Chinese Mainland respectively made presentations.

In the morning of 10th October, Professor Chen Xingcan, firstly, made a presentation titled as Cultural Heritage Protection in China: Challenge and Opportunities. Then Professor Tim Murray, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Australia, made a presentation titled as Archaeological heritage as an agent of social sustainability. And then Professor Tracey L-D Lu from the Department of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong kong made a presentation titled as Ugly or Beautiful? The Discourse of ‘Heritage’ in Rural South China.

In the afternoon, Dr. Tracy Ireland from the Donald Horne Institute for Cultural Heritage, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, made a presentation titled as Archaeological heritage management, communities and conservation in Australia. Dr. Zhai Shaodong from the IA CASS made a presentation titled as Great Archaeological Heritage Conservation in China: Past and Present. Professor Richard Mackay from La Trobe University, Australia, made a presentation titled as Managing Heritage and Tourism at Angkor. Dr. Jiangbo, vice-director of the Frontier Archaeology Centre, IACASS, made a presentation titled as Piers, Shipwreck and Ritual Establishments: Cultural Heritage Landscape of Oversea Trade Port Quanzhou. Dr. Sun Zhouyong from Shaanxi Provincial Intitute of Archaeology, China, made a presentation titled as Construction and Development of the Archaeological Institute in China——An Example of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.

In the morning of 11th October, Dr. Sean Ulm from James Cook University, Australia, made a presentation titled as Education and Skill Gaps in Professional Archaeology and Heritage Management in Australia. Dr. Gong Guoqiang from IACASS made a presentation titled as An unprecedented Test to Solve the Contradiction Between the Protection of Ancient Ruins and Modern Urban Construction ——A Case Study：Construction of Archaeological Park of Tang Daming Palace Site. Fang Jialing, doctoral candidate from the School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, China, made a presentation titled as The Value and Protection of Productive Cultural Landscape: Honghe Hani Rice Terraces as a Case Study.

In the afternoon, Dr. Tong Tao from IACASS made a presentation titled as Archaeology in Western Tibet. Dr. Heather Burke from the Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, South Australia made a presentation titled as Archaeology, social significance and the community: Where the ‘truth’ lies. Wang Renyu from the Cultural Heritage Conservation and Research Centre, IACASS, made a presentation titled as The Creation of Hakka Heritage, WH principles and Management.

In this forum, participants warmly discussed the contents and presentations and some common concerned issues. This strongly strengthened the understanding on the policies, philosophies, and regulations related to the cultural heritage conservation, while impelled everyone to rethink the related works. In the end, Professor Chen Xingcan and Professor Tim Murray summarized this forum. They pointed out that participants introduced their works on cultural heritage conservation from multi-level and multi-aspect. And this increased the understanding of each other and laid foundations for the future exchange. Although this forum is a beginning for both sides, it addressed some new problems and new ideas pushing us to further consider the rationality of the related policies, regulations and measures and playing a guiding role in our future work.

Source:Chinese Archaeology (http://www.cssn.cn/news/566500.htm)