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The fourth Peace Garden Peace Festival was held in Beijing on 21 September, theming on “Building People-to-People Bonds and Promoting Peace”.

During the event, Dr. Li Ruohong, Director-General of China World Peace Foundation, with the witness of diplomatic envoys and the representative of UNESCO, called on youth around the world to participate in the Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest. Ms. Wang Minrong, Director of China World Peace Foundation announced the content of the Photo Contest.

It is reported that the contest was co-designed by UNESCO and China World Peace Foundation. It aims to raise awareness amongst young people about the relevance of the common heritage of the Silk Roads in modern time. It particularly seeks to engage youth in countries along the historic Silk Roads and beyond in a dialogue through the use of visual art as a tool for communication.

The purpose of the contest is to contribute in a concrete manner to the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022) for which UNESCO is designated as the lead Agency. Finally, by using photography as a mean of expression and creativity, the project wishes to encourage the understanding of Silk Roads culture as a vector for intercultural dialogue and sustainable development.

According to Li Ruohong, the photo contest will popularize knowledge via photography, a lively and vivid way. It also facilitates cross-civilization cooperation among countries along the Belt and Road and promotes exchanges and interactions of youth across the world. As our hope of the future, young people can gain a profound understanding of their local societies as well as learn the essence of other cultures through the contest. They will better understand the diversity of different cultures and civilizations. The contest will demonstrate their view and encourage them to protect tangible cultural heritage and love the intangible cultural heritage, such as folk customs.