A Brief Overview of the Beijing Forum
The Beijing Forum, an international academic event, has been held annually since 2004. It is sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Government and is overseen by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The Beijing Forum is co-sponsored by Peking University, Beijing Municipal Education Commission, and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies.
The Beijing Forum prides itself on being international, academic, and impactful. For the past 20 years, more than 7,000 distinguished dignitaries and scholars from around the world have convened in Beijing for the Forum, demonstrating its importance and significance.
The theme chosen for the first Beijing Forum, “The Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All,” has been retained as the overarching theme for each succeeding forum, which is a testament to the event’s unwavering advocacy of harmony and prosperity for all members of the global community. To supplement and refine the discussion, a sub-theme related to the overall concept of global peace and prosperity is chosen each year.
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Participants
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Countries/Regions
Past Themes
SEE ALLThe Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All: Annual Topics
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BEIJING FORUM 2023
ThemeInheritance and Mutual Learning
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BEIJING FORUM 2022
ThemeCreating a Future for Human Civilization: Trust, Dialogue and Cooperation
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BEIJING FORUM 2021
ThemeRising to Meet New Challenges: One World, One Future
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BEIJING FORUM 2020
ThemeGlobalization Under the Impact of the Pandemic: New Challenges and Opportunities
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BEIJING FORUM 2019
ThemeThe Changing World and the Future of Humankind
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BEIJING FORUM 2018
ThemeChanges and Constants: Universities and Civilizations during the Past 120 Years
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BEIJING FORUM 2017
ThemeValues and Social Order in a Changing World
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BEIJING FORUM 2016
ThemeMutual Trust, Cooperation, Sharing
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BEIJING FORUM 2015
ThemeDifferent Paths but Common Responsibilities
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BEIJING FORUM 2014
ThemeChina and the World: Tradition, Reality and Future
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BEIJING FORUM 2013
ThemeRetrospect and Prospect
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BEIJING FORUM 2012
ThemeChallenges and Opportunities: New Thinking for a New Reality
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BEIJING FORUM 2011
ThemeTradition and Modernity, Transition and Transformation
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BEIJING FORUM 2010
ThemeCommitments and Responsibilities for a Better World
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BEIJING FORUM 2009
ThemeLooking Beyond the Crisis to a Harmonious Future
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BEIJING FORUM 2008
ThemeUniversal Values and the Development Trend of Civilization
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BEIJING FORUM 2007
ThemeDiversity in the Development of Human Civilization
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BEIJING FORUM 2006
ThemeReflections on the Civilization Modes of Humankind
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BEIJING FORUM 2005
ThemeAsia’s Opportunities and Development in Globalization
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BEIJING FORUM 2004
ThemeThe Harmony and Prosperity of Civilizations
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- 2004
PARTICIPANTS AND
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
- DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS
- EMINENT SCHOLARS
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António Guterres
the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations
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Yin Li
Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee; Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee
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Irina Bokova
Former Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
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Chen Jining
Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee; Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee
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George H. W. Bush
Former US president
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Tony Blair
Former Prime Minister of United Kingdom
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Han Qide
Former Vice-Chairman of CPPCC
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Yukio Hatoyama
Former Prime Minister of Japan
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Wang Guangqian
14th CPPCC National Committee; Executive Vice-Chairperson of the CDL Central Committee
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Kofi A. Annan
the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations
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Liu Yandong
Former Chinese Vice Premier
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Ban Ki-moon
the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations
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Sun Chunlan
President of International Confucian Association; Former Chinese Vice Premier
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Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
Princess of Thailand
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Yang Jiechi
Former Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs, China
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Huai Jinpeng
Ministry of Education, China
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Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Former Prime Minister of France
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Qian Qichen
Former Chinese Vice Premier
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Dominique de Villepin
Former Minister of France President, International Mountain Tourism Alliance
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Xu Jialu
Vice Chairman of the 9th and 10th Standing Committee of the NPC
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Romano Prodi
Former Prime Minister of Italy; Former President of the European Commission
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Jiang Shusheng
Vice Chairman of the 11th Standing Committee of NPC
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Fukuda Yasuo
Former Prime Minister of Japan
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Yan Junqi
Vice Chairman of the 11th and 12th Standing Committee of NPC
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A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Former President of India
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Wang Chengwen
Chief Commissioner of Supervision; Member of CPC Leading Group of Ministry of Education, China
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Kevin Michael Rudd
Australia’s twenty-sixth Prime Minister; Australia’s Ambassador to the U.S.A
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Yin Yong
Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Mayor of Beijing
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Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
Former President of Chile
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You Jun
Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Secretary of the Education Commission of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC
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Ernesto Zedillo
Former President of Mexico
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Yu Yingjie
Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee
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Mamnoon Hussain
Former President of Pakistan
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Shaukat Aziz
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
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Li Zhaoxing
Former Foreign Minister, China
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Klaus Schwab
Founder of World Economic Forum
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Rashid Alimov
Former Secretary-General of Shanghai Coorperation Organization Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tajikistan
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Chen Baosheng
Former Minister of Education
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Pascal Lamy
Former Director-General, World Trade Organization
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Sha Zukang
Former Deputy Secretary-General of United Nations
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Li Yi
Director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission
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Vladimir Yakunin
Founding President of the World Public Forum ‘Dialogue of Civilizations’
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Nabil Fahmy
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Egypt
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Qiu Yuanping
Deputy director of the 13th Committee for Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese
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Nassir-Abdulaziz-AL-Nasser
Former President of the United Nations General Assembly
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Getachew Engida
Former Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
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Han Seung-soo
Former Prime Minister of Republic of Korea
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George Yong-Boon Yeo
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Singapore Vice Chairman, Kuok Group
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Amartya Kumar Sen
the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998
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Douglass Cecil North
the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1993
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Kenneth Joseph Arrow
the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1972
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Li Yining
Emeritus Dean and Professor of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University
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Justin Lin Yifu
Dean of Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University; Former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank
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Mohan Munasinghe
the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007; Former Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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Hao Ping
Secretary of the CPC Peking University Committee; Chair of the Peking University Council
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Gong Qihuang
President, Peking University; Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Zhou Qiren
Boya Chair Professor, Peking University
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Avram Noam Chomsky
Professor of MIT; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Member of the National Academy of Sciences of America
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Deng Xiaonan
Professor, Department of History, Peking University
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James Alexander Mirrlees
the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1996
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Ping Xinqiao
Professor, School of Economics, Peking University
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Joseph Eugene Stiglitz
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2001
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Qin Dashu
Professor, School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University
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Roger Bruce Myerson
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007
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Wang Jisi
Professor, School of International Studies, Peking University
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Robert Neelly Bellah
Recipient of the United States National Humanities Medal; Elliott Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley
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Wang Bo
Vice President and Provost of Peking University
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Fang Fang
Vice President and Boya Distinguished Professor of Peking University
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Chey Tae-won
Chairman of SK Group
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Tang Yijie
Professor of Philosophy at Peking University; Confucianist
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Kim Yoosuk
President and Executive Director of Board of Trustees of Chey Institute for Advanced Studies
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Qian Chengdan
Boya Chair Professor at Peking University; Former Dean of the Institute of Area Studies, PKU
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Jeffrey Lehman
Vice Chancellor of NYU Shanghai; Former President of Cornell University
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Tu Weiming
Dean, Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Peking University; Research Professor, Harvard University; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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Teruo Fujii
President of the University of Tokyo
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Hiroshi Komiyama
the 28th President at the University of Tokyo; Member of the Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability
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Lee C. Bollinger
President Emeritus and Seth Low Professor of the University
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Chu Xiaobo
Director, Office of Humanities and Social Sciences, Peking University; Professor, School of International Studies, Peking University
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Sir Colin Renshaw Lucas
Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford; Former Chair of the Board of the British Library
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Fu Zhiming
Vice-Dean and Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University
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Jürgen Moltmann
Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen
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Immanuel Wallerstein
Founder of the "world-systems" Theory; Senior Research Scholar in Sociology at Yale University
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Li Meng
Dean, Yuanpei College, Peking University; Professor, Department of Philosophy, Peking University
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Wendell Wallach
Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); Chair of Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
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David Jan Skorton
President and CEO of the AAMC; Former President of Cornell University
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Li Yun
Director, Office of International Relations, Peking University; Deputy Director, Institute of Area Studies, Peking University
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Park In-kook
Former President of Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, Former Republic of Korea Ambassador to the UN
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Chey Jae-won
Vice Chairman of SK Group
SELECTED KEYNOTE REPORTS
SEE ALL- 2023
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Higher Education in the Age of Great Transformations
Teruo FujiiPresident, University of Tokyo
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Thoughts on the Importance of International Academic Exchange
Mark C. ElliottVice Provost for International Affairs, Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History, Harvard University
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The Power of Collaboration and Cooperation in a Digital World
Gene D. BlockChancellor, University of California, Los Angeles
PERSPECTIVES
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Professor Tang Yijie, renowned Chinese contemporary philosopher
Only when the intrinsic essence of a home culture has been truly developed can it better absorb foreign culture to enhance one’s home culture. As we integrate the external culture we must safeguard the foundation of our own. As such the culture that impacts the social advancement of mankind but must be the kind that’s ethnical and global at the same time.
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Dr. Amartya Kumar Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics (1998)
Civilizations around the world are widely connected and closely intertwined The need for recollecting and celebrating the richness of the vast interdependences within our far-flung global civilization has never been stronger.
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Prof. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman World Economic Forum
Beijing Forum has played an important role in promoting international exchanges and cooperation gathering the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders of global societies to address global challenges and in particular highlighting the important role of universities. Universities should have new ideas and new concepts; in this way they can substantially contribute to the progress of society.
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Stephen Toope, then-President, University of Cambridge
“No man is an island.” What is true about people is also true about global universities. Finding solutions to the world’s shared challenges will depend on our institutions’ ability to harness the power of our partnerships. These partnerships help us reiterate our mission: to serve and challenge our societies.
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Chey Tae-Won, Chairman, the SK Group, Korea
Over the past thousands of years humanity has accumulated various wisdom and experiences. We need to use these experiences as those who are successful are all capable of dealing with change. However in this process we must not rely solely on tradition and we must continuously adapt to new situations in order to cultivate new traditions. Starting from the Beijing Forum we must create a brand new world.
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Hao Ping, Secretary of the CPC, Peking University Committee; Chair of the Peking University Council
“As an important bridge for cultural exchange and scientific research cooperation universities must establish a sense of a community with a shared future for mankind have a broad international vision and a more open and tolerant attitude and possess a larger framework for forming an international academic community. Through scientific and cultural exchanges and frequent contacts among individuals in those fields we can deepen mutual trust collaboration and sharing between different countries and regions to build more solid bonds among us which will provide an inexhaustible motivating force for improving the global governance system.”
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Gong Qihuang, President, Peking University
“Universities should continue to expand the opening of education to the outside world and serve as a bridge between civilizations; universities should improve the system for international collaborative innovation and pool the wisdom of all parties to work together to overcome common problems faced by mankind; universities should seize the new opportunities provided by the digital intelligence era and cultivate top innovative talents who have the potential for global leadership.”
Introduction video


The past two decades have flown by. Yet, it is a mere fleeting moment in the grand tapestry of human civilization. Yet within these brief dozen years, the founders, participants, and observers of the Beijing Forum have jointly forged an extraordinary cultural legacy. They have taken the lead to resoundingly proclaim the grand slogan of the “harmony of civilizations”; they have unwaveringly embarked on a relentless exploration of pathways and objectives for the harmonious development of civilization; they have envisioned and pursued the boundless benefits and opportunities that civilization’s shared prosperity could bestow upon all humankind.