AIUTA* held the 2nd Conference on “Silk Road Archaeology and Elderly Universities" online at 4:00 PM (Beijing Time) on September 27th, 2022. The main venue of this conference was at Ferrara University in Italy. The conference was presided over by Livio Zerbini, AIUTA council member. Prof. Francois Vellas, AIUTA President, specially came to Ferrara to attend the conference in person. Prof. Ma Xianguo, the First Vice President of AIUTA and Director of IRCSE* of CAUA*, together with Prof. Zhang Xing, Deputy Director of IRCSE, attended the video conference in Shanghai. And Prof. Wang Younong, Director of International Liaison Department of CAUA also attended the conference online in Guangzhou.
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President Vellas first briefed the attendees on the project “Silk Road Archaeology and Elderly Universities” and the main idea of the last conference held in Valencia, Spain. Besides, he also introduced a series of activities on Silk Road Archaeology held ahead of the conference. The activity lasted for five days and guided the elderly to experience the culture of ancient silk road from five aspects of “touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste”, including viewing mulberry plants, enjoying folk music, tasting spices and tea, etc.
Prof. Ma Xianguo made a speech then introducing to the conference attendees four Chinese cities and their unique historic sites. They are Luoyang City in Henan Province (Longmen Grottoes), Xi’an City in Shaanxi Province (Terra-Cotta Warriors), Jiayuguan City in Gansu Province (Jiayuguan Pass) and Dunhuang City in Gansu Province (Mogao Grottoes). He also extended a sincere invitation to AIUTA friends for visiting these places. These places have been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. They could very well tell China’s brilliant culture and Chinese people’s great wisdom. Besides, there are very convenient transportation means and popular tourist attractions in these cities.
Prof. Ma Xianguo made a speech then introducing to the conference attendees four Chinese cities and their unique historic sites. They are Luoyang City in Henan Province (Longmen Grottoes), Xi’an City in Shaanxi Province (Terra-Cotta Warriors), Jiayuguan City in Gansu Province (Jiayuguan Pass) and Dunhuang City in Gansu Province (Mogao Grottoes). He also extended a sincere invitation to AIUTA friends for visiting these places. These places have been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. They could very well tell China’s brilliant culture and Chinese people’s great wisdom. Besides, there are very convenient transportation means and popular tourist attractions in these cities.
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Prof. Wang Younong also delivered a speech at the conference, focusing on the “Southern Silk Road” starting from Chengdu (Sichuan) and ending in Central and Western Asia by way of Yunnan, Burma, India and Pakistan. And he also introduced the great discoveries of Three-star Piles and Jinsha Relics in Sichuan, calling for more attention on the “Southern Silk Road”.
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Afterwards, the participants received a remote interview from Italian media. Prof. Ma Xianguo introduced to the foreign friends the current situation of aging and the achievements of elderly education in China, and he specially introduced the main characteristics of elderly education in Shanghai. Prof. Wang Younong hoped that the project of “Silk Road Archeology” could be launched as soon as possible after the epidemic, and foreign friends could visit and experience China’s Silk Road culture!
*AIUTA: International Association of Universities of the Third Age
CAUA: China Association of Universities for the Aged
IRCSE: International Research Center for Senior Education
*AIUTA: International Association of Universities of the Third Age
CAUA: China Association of Universities for the Aged
IRCSE: International Research Center for Senior Education