The inauguration ceremony of the UCASS Center of Gugong Studies (Gugong stands for the Forbidden City) was officially held in the library of Liangxiang campus on May 27.An esteemed gathering of leaders were present, including Wang Xudong, Director of the Palace Museum;Zhao Guoying, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum; Zhang Zhengwen, President of UCASS; Zhang Bin, Vice President of UCASS; together with other heads of administrative departments and schools of UCASS.Following the inauguration, Dr. Wang Xudong delivered an academic lecture ontheQuintessence of Mutually Reinforcing Inclusiveness in Chinese Culture: Case Studies of Dunhuang and the Palace Museum, as the first lecture of thePalace Museum Lecture Seriesco-sponsored by UCASS and the Palace Museum. More than 100 faculty members and students of UCASS also joined the event.

At the ceremony, Prof. Zhang Zhengwen welcomed the visit of Dr. Wang Xudong and his party. Prof.Zhang highlighted the productive outcomes that the two sides have delivered with concerted efforts since the mid-March renewal of the bilateral strategic cooperation agreement. Building upon the major progress made in disciplinary development, textbook publication and academic engagement, even greater achievements of cooperation will come to fruition in the future.

Dr. Wang elaborated on the dynamics and differences between Dunhuang and the Palace Museum as well as their great relevance to inter-ethnic cultural interactions and convergence, by sharing his perceptive observations on their artistic values, origins, development trajectories and conservation efforts. As he delved into the proposition of “Safe, Academic, Digital and Dynamic Palace Museum”, Dr. Wang underlined the valuable inspirations drawn from the formation and conservation journey of Dunhuang and the Palace Museum: with our firmly grounded cultural confidence, we need to further embrace the achievements of human civilizations with even greater inclusiveness and open-mindedness to build a nation of cultural strength, as we practice the great conception of building the community of shared future for mankind and jointly preserve the precious cultural heritage of mankind.During the Q&A session,Dr. Wang offered insightful remarks in response to students’ questions.