In late September, exhibition and performances of Lingnan traditional culture in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area took place in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong. Stage performances included dance, Cantonese opera, folk music, martial arts, dragon dance and lion dance. Photo: GUANGZHOU DAILY

SHENZHEN—With its rich historical and cultural resources, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has great potential, said experts at the Cultural and Technological Innovation Symposium in late October. 

The construction of bay areas has become an important model for global economic development. Entering an important historical period, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area needs to position itself for future development.

François Colbert, who holds the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Management, said that cultural tourism has great potential for development in the Greater Bay Area. He suggested that the area should strengthen the cooperation among government, enterprises and social groups at different levels, focusing on the area’s branding and the development of its tourism and cultural industry. 

“Through cultural innovation, the urban agglomerations in the Greater Bay Area can play a huge role in leading innovation,” said Hua Jian, director of the Cultural Industry Research Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

The competitiveness of a city does not lie in its size, but in its vitality of innovation. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area brings together a world cultural city cluster, so it should be the core of world cultural innovation, Hua said. The area should develop high-end innovative resources, present forward-looking and leading cultural themes, embrace diverse world cultures, and foster sustainable cultural creativity. 

As part of a national strategy, the area should be built into an engine of Chinese cultural innovation, said Li Fengliang, director of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Shenzhen University. In terms of the development of culture itself, the area is an important place for the whole of Guangdong culture and a gathering place for multiculturalism.

In terms of cultural innovation, the area can make breakthroughs in emerging cultural development zones, pilot zones for cultural and financial integration, pioneer zones for international trade, and demonstration zones for international cultural exchange, Li continued. 

Xiang Yong, deputy director of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University, discussed the relationship between cultural creativity and economic growth from the perspective of cultural ecology, saying that the essence of establishing a cultural relationship is to establish a cultural ecology.

A single cultural idea cannot breed a harmonious cultural ecology, Xiang explained. Without culture, the Bay Area cannot be built into a humanistic area despite its geographical features. The key point of the district’s creative economy is to establish a harmony without uniformity. 

Zhan Shuanghui, deputy director of the Institute of Cultural Industries at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said that a “Humanistic Bay Area” is not only a multi-dimensional, multi-level, open and innovative concept with great generative power, but also a practical sustainable development strategy.

The area should aim to build itself into a world-class one. On the basis of ensured national security, China should fully empower the area to be a pioneer, offering new ideas for cultural innovation and development in the new era, Zhan suggested. 

We must create an excellent culture in the Bay Area based on our cultural confidence, said Chen Keshi, a professor from the School of Urban Planning and Design at Peking University. We must have cultural confidence in urban design and architectural planning. Unique local cultures such as the Lingnan and Hakka cultures provide the area with a wealth of material for urban design.

When carrying out urban design and planning, Chen said, people need to be aware of integrating Chinese and Western culture. 

(Edited by JIANG HONG)