Time: December 13th, 2018
Source: Research Academy of Cultural Heritage and Creative Industry
Author: Ji Geng

Irina Bokova, former director-general of UNESCO, was awarded an honorary JNU professorship in a ceremony in the Shipai campus library on Dec. 9. An exhibition commemorating the first anniversary of the founding of JNU's Research Academy of Cultural Heritage and Creative Industry also opened that day.

In the exhibition, many famous scholars and designers from Beijing, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as those who have inherited the crafts of Miao embroidery and batik from Guizhou, are showing their handicrafts. Renowned creative industry designers from the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, are showing their designs and transformative designs derived from folk arts. JNU Party Secretary Lin Rupeng; Tao Xiaonian, president of China National Arts and Crafts Society; and Fu Lang, vice president of Guangdong Public Diplomacy Association, spoke during the activities.

Bokova, a Bulgarian, was visiting JNU at the invitation of the academy's president, Chen Ping. This was her first visit to a university in Guangdong.  

Bokova, director-general of UNESCO from 2009 to 2017, was both the first woman and the first Southeastern European to head the agency. During her tenure, she put forward the idea of new humanism, pushed forward UNESCO's institutional reform, advocated gender equality, used education to curb terrorism, and vigorously protected world cultural heritage and human intellectual achievements. She actively supported UNESCO's cooperation with China and set a benchmark for developing countries represented by China to play a greater role in the international arena. In 2016 Forbes named her the 89th most influential woman in the world.

Founded in May 2017, the Research Academy is one of the earliest institutes in China combining cultural heritage and creative industry for research and transformation. It gives full play to the advantages of universities and overseas Chinese, innovates in collaboration with society, and builds an international education and cultural exchange platform.

(Awarding ceremony of Honorary Prof. Bokova)