On the afternoon of August 10th, the first episode of Jiangnan Culture Lecture’s Fengxian Season unfolded at the Yanzi Academy in Fengxian, Shanghai. In addition, an Exchange Meeting on the “Virtue and Beauty Traditions” and Jiangnan Culture was held. The event was given an elegant name: Poesy-disseminated Fengxian and Etiquette-rhymed Jiangnan.

At the meeting, the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations and the Publicity Department of the CPC Fengxian District Committee signed a cooperation agreement for the Jiangnan Culture Lecture’s Fengxian Season project. The Jiangnan Culture Lecture’s Fengxian Season focused on the overarching theme of “Jiangnan’s humanistic economics.” The series would jointly bring together social science experts, cultural figures, and professionals from the Yangtze River Delta to explore the significant value of Jiangnan’s humanistic economy. A series of exchanges and dialogues will be organized, covering topics such as Jiangnan’s economy, trade, commerce, and technological culture.

The Fengxian Season’s first event focused on the theme of “Jiangnan Culture and Jiangnan Confucian Merchants.” The discussion was led by Yan Gongda, Vice President of the 5th and 6th China Calligraphers Association and President of the Higher Calligraphy Education Branch of the Education Calligraphy and Painting Association; Fan Jinmin, a professor of the School of History at NJU and member of the Jiangsu Province Literature and History Research Museum; He Jun, a Specially Appointed Distinguished Professor of the School of Philosophy at FDU and Vice President of the Association for Confucianism Studies, Shanghai; and Wang Wei, the founder and Chairman of Shanghai Shuli Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. They jointly explored how to push for innovative transformation and development of “Jiangnan Confucianism” in the process of deepening the “Second Combination,” exploring the vibrant practice of humanomics in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The conference also comprised sessions of roundtable discussions on “Yanzi’s Rites & Music Culture and Jiangnan Culture” and “The Virtue and Beauty Traditions and Jiangnan Culture.” Experts and scholars engaged in the exchanges.

This was the time that the Jiangnan Culture Lecture project was brought to Fengxian, in order to implement the action plan for building the best practice base, in Fengxian, for Xi Jinping’s cultural thoughts. It was also a proactive exploration on how to combine efforts between governmental functions of both the metropolis and district levels to create distinctive Jiangnan cultural brands, to drive new and high-quality development.