On May 20, 2020, International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Roads: Special Dialogue on Youth’s Response to COVID-19 (IYFSD) was held online. It was jointly held by UNESCO, Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, Changsha Municipal Government, and Nanjing Municipal Government.
Nanjing venue of IYFSD. (Photo provided by Xu Tiancheng)
The theme of the special dialogue was “Youth’s Response to COVID-19”. The dialogue was the first international conference held by UNESCO among global youth since the COVID-19 outbreak. In the event, global youth actively shared their experience and ideas about fighting against the pandemic, and encouraged each other to make contribution to promote the mutual learning and cooperation among the youth from different cultural backgrounds. Among them, Xu Tiancheng, Youth Delegate from Nanjing, introduced Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as well as the significance of spreading medical knowledge in the session 3 “Cooperation, Inclusiveness and Mutual Learning -- Silk Road Spirit in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic”.
Xu Tiancheng is one of the Youth Delegates of the third International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Roads. Now he is a PhD student in acupuncture and manipulation in Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine. As a young Chinese medicine practitioner, Xu Tiancheng introduced the important role of Traditional Chinese Medicine in reducing the rate of mild cases converting to severe cases during IYFSD. He also introduced the knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine to delegates from all over the world with simple examples, for example the shape of all the ear points is like an inverted baby, and the meridians or path of energy, are like rivers between mountains and valleys. Xu Tiancheng believes that Traditional Chinese Medicine explains people's lives from a unique perspective. It is a combination of natural science and the humanities, and it contains profound philosophical knowledge. He also wrote a series of blogs to spread the knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine through natural phenomena around people.
Nanjing delegate Xu Tiancheng participated in IYFSD. (Photo provided by Xu Tiancheng)
International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Roads upholds the concept of "inheriting heritage and inspiring innovation" and provides a platform of exchange and mutual learning for young people from countries along the Belt and Road. Since the first forum held in April 2017, many youth delegates from various countries have talked about the friendship and cooperation around the Belt and Road initiative, and have promoted cultural exchange among different civilizations.