city's cultural efforts praised-m6米乐app

a senior unesco official highly praised shenzhen's cultural efforts and achievements at saturday's closing ceremony for the 14th annual shenzhen reading month, saying cultural development would create a bright future for the city.

"i've never seen a city so motivated and so dedicated to reading. you are an example to other cities in creative, human-based development," francesco bandarin, unesco's assistant director-general for culture, told audience members at shenzhen book city cbd store in futian district.

"shenzhen is the practical application of the principle that culture is the key to sustainable development," he said.

bandarin even created a slogan for shenzhen-"culture is the future"-and learned to say it in chinese.

bandarin, who came to shenzhen for the first time saturday, said he thought of the slogan while visiting the city's cultural facilities.

"shenzhen has put its museum, library and concert hall at the center of the city. this is a very clear indication of its culture and future," he said.

during his one-day tour, he visited shenzhen concert hall, shenzhen book city cbd store and zhizheng museum, a private museum in shenzhen's tallest building, the kingkey 100. he praised "ode to humanity," calling the shenzhen-created symphony "a great success." at shenzhen book city cbd store, he came across a group of young students conducting a model united nations conference and was deeply impressed.

at zhizheng museum, he studied antiques with great interest.

he also met wang jingsheng, shenzhen's publicity chief.

during the meeting with bandarin, wang thanked unesco for its support of shenzhen and said "culture is the future"is a very good concept.

"this slogan encourages us, because shenzhen's development is based on this notion," wang told bandarin, adding that further support from unesco would encourage shenzhen to work harder to keep its leading position in the promotion of reading and creative fields.

calling shenzhen a second home for unesco, bandarin said shenzhen and unesco could cooperate in many new areas. shenzhen already has been cooperating with unesco in the promotion of reading and creativity.

bandarin said shenzhen and unesco could cooperate in the areas of urban architecture and urban design, too.

"many cities in the world need this kind of support," he said.

bandarin said shenzhen could prove that a young city can have heritage.

"heritage is something that people can identify with, not old buildings that become little dots in the city," said bandarin, a former director of the unesco world heritage center."shenzhen could be a very useful case in this."

(source:shenzhen daily)