Summary Report Joint Iran-China Cultural Cooperation Meeting: The Silk Road and Friendship Among Iran and China Tehran, IR of Iran 30 August 2016

On 30 August 2016, the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO hosted an event by the above title. In addition to the Secretary General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO (Dr Sadollah Nasiri Gheydari), the Head of the Culture Department of the Iran-NatCom (Dr Abdulmahdi Mostaking), as well as well-known Iranian philosophers and university professors, the event was host to a five-member delegation from China from the International Confucian Association (Dr Zhang Xiping, Dr Miu Xiping, Prof. Li Chunshan, Ms Li Hunmei) as well as the School of Foreign Languages of the Peking University (Dr Yu Guili).

Following a welcome remark, the Secretary General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO explained about the long-held and distant cultural ties between Iran and China, as nations playing an active role in building and promoting the civilisation of the world. He continued by explaining the cause of UNESCO’s establishment in 1946 as primarily an organisation aimed at promoting and safeguarding cultures. He referred to Confucius as a symbol of ethics and humanity and explained about the importance of ethics and humanity for the Iranians, introducing the Iranian-founded UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science. He concluded by once more extending his gratitude to the Chinese delegation and to Dr Yu Guili (Director of the Department of Persian Language and Literature at the School of Foreign Languages of Peking University), and expressed his will to strengthen cooperation with China and the International Confucian Association to promote dialogue among civilisations.

Dr Abdulmahdi Mostakin, Head of the Culture Deaprtment of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO and moderator of the session, began his speech by a verse from the renowned Iranian poet, Sa’adi, followed by a saying by Confucius. He explained about the abundance of the word “Chin”, the Persian for “China” in the Persian literature, explaining that the word “Chin” is attributed with beauty in the Persian literature. He then explained about the purpose of the meeting, and the launch of a new Persian translation of the famous Chinese text, “Tao Te Ching”, by Dr Ali Zahed, as a side event. The speaker then drew the attention of the audience to an imaginary feast where Confucius, and a number of renowned Iranian philosophers and poets were present and they discuss the importance of science education and morality for the humankind.

Dr Niu Xiping, Secretary of the International Confucian Association, initially expressed his gratitude to Drs Nasiri Gheydari and Mostakin of the Iran-NatCom for hosting this event. He then introduced all members to the participating Chinese delegation. He explained about a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Chinese Delegation and the Allameh Tabatabaei University of Iran during their stay to organise an international seminar on cultural relations between Iran and China. He thanked and congratulated Dr Ali Zahed for his translation into the Persian language of Tao Te Ching and continued by introducing the International Confucian Association, explaining its aim as promoting peace and friendship, internationally, and raising awareness on the Confucian way of thinking and living. The need to respect and safeguard diverse cultures and strengthening cooperation with UNESCO, the Iran-NatCom and Iranian researchers, were among other issues discussed by Dr Niu Xiping.     

 Dr Bastani, Faculty at Shahid Beheshti University and Representative of the IR of Iran in the Silk Road project was the next speaker, who briefed the session on the importance of the Silk-Road and the long-held relations between Iran and China. He emphasised the importance of revitalising the Silk-Road and brought examples of the cordial relation between Iran and China, highlighting the fact that Iran and China were never in war as the hallmark of this amicable relation. He then explained about the first policy-making meeting held on the Silk-Roads in China in the past year and the fact that 27 countries joined the Silk-Road project in Spain, expressing hope that Iran would also be able to host the future Silk-Road meetings.

At this stage the Persian translation of the Tao Te Ching was launched and one of the participants who had read the book was asked to explain about it. Dr Zanjani then initially spoke about Tao Te Ching itself and Laozi and then expressed his views on Dr Zahed’s translation of the book, introducing it as a diverse text from all other translations of the book into Persian due to its simplicity and at the same time faithfulness to the style of the text; to its open-endedness.

Dr Zahed, the translator of Tao Te Ching was also invited to speak about his work. He began by explaining about deep evolutions in man’s ways of thought and living, referring to the different ages in the evolution of human thinking, the ages of greatness, renaissance and the modern and post-modern ages and said that by embarking on this task, he actually intended to link the modern and the post-modern to the ancient ages, which are a necessity for living our lives as modern beings. In his view, the modern could not be without the past and it is important to revive the past.

The next speaker was Dr Zhang Xiping, Deputy Head of the International Confucian Association and Professor at the University of Peking. His speech was solely focused on Iran-China relations. “The history of the civilisation of Iran and China is long and the cultural relations between the two nations indicate an amicable bond between the two nations”, said the speaker. As proof, he brought examples of ancient excavations of Iranian artefacts in China, the use of Iranian words in the Xian province, a piece of Chinese poetry with and Iranian name, etc. He also spoke about the close relation between Iran and China in the Achaemenid era.

Dr Yu Guili, Chinese-Persian interpreter and Director of the Department for Persian Language and Literature at the School of Foreign Languages of Peking University, read out a piece of poetry she had written in Persian. She thanked the organisers for the meeting, expressing her heartfelt gratitude to the Iranian nation for their friendly relation with China.

The last speaker was Dr Mahmoud Rezvani, translator of Sa’adi. At the outset he expressed his gratitude to Dr Yu Guili for her beautiful piece of Persian poem. He then explained that in the past the world was divided into two extremes – the orient and the occident. These were Iran and China in the olden days. He then introduced Sa’adi and Confucius as alter egos – one being with a part of their soul in china and a second part in Iran – saying that “they were not terrestrial but celestial beings”. In the end, he read out a piece by Sa’adi together with his own English translation of it.

The meeting was concluded by the launch of a painting of peace (painted by Shahin Shadati), a play of a part of Ferdowsi’s Shanameh (Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings) by the Iranian Ambassadors of Peace (a group of children),

and a traditional musical performance.