Hills and Ravines in the Heart: Chinese Gardens and Landscape Painting Symposium and Exhibition Held in Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine at London South Bank University

On November 28th local time, the “Hills and Ravines in the Heart: Chinese Gardens and Landscape Painting” Symposium and Exhibition was launched in the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine (CITCM) at London South Bank University (LSBU). The event was sponsored by CITCM and School of Architecture at Southeast University. Paul Ivey, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of LSBU and Wang Yongli, Minister Counselor for Education of the Chinese Embassy in the UK attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches upon invitation.

Wang Yongli expressed that the event is an epitome of people-to-people and cultural exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative and CITCM has made significant contributions to promoting cross-cultural understanding and exchanges between China and the UK.

Wang Yongli and Paul Ivey giving opening speeches

In the speech, Paul Ivey said that London South Bank University welcomes more mutual visits of experts and cultural exchanges between the UK and China. He also extended his gratitude to CITCM and Southeast University for their efforts for preparing the symposium and exhibition.

Chinese and foreign garden experts commenting on A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains

This exhibition lasted for 10 days. Works on display were boards about Chinese gardens such as Changchun Garden in Wuxi, Geyuan Garden in Yangzhou, Zhuozheng Garden in Suzhou and Zhan Garden in Nanjing as well as landscape paintings including Travelers Among Mountains and Streams, Riverbank, A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. These exquisite exhibits amazed the on-site audience and received much admiration.

UK garden experts appreciating the landscape painting exhibition

The symposium held on 29th November covered four topics including “foundations for the concepts of landscape and their development”, “reality, illusion and imagination”, “rockery in garden and landscape” and “design in relation to landscape concept and painting”. Professor Chen Wei and Professor Ge Ming from Southeast University, Dr. Alison Hardie from the University of Leeds, Xu Yinong, Foreign Director of CITCM and other well-known scholars and experts at home and abroad delivered keynote speeches on these topics respectively and conducted in-depth discussions. They also had some interactions and exchanges with the audience.

Xu Yinong chairing the symposium

The event aims to make full use of the solid platform for cross-cultural understanding and communication provided by the Confucius Institute so as to promote a direct and close dialogue between different academic communities on the history of Chinese gardens.