The School of Arts and Communication Assists in the 7th Wuhan Design Biennale, Promoting the Exchange and Cooperation of Creative Talents between China and Africa through Design

Prof. He Qingjun, dean of the School, attended the opening ceremony of Wuhan Design Biennale

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the “Belt and Road” initiative, the “principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith” for China’s Africa policy and commitment to the greater good and shared interests. The 7th Wuhan Design Biennale, in conjunction with the School of Arts and Communication and International Education College of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), jointly carried out the 3^rd African Youth Creative Talent Training Program with design as a link, organized African youth creative talents to come to Wuhan for exchanges and seminars, to further enhance the exchanges and cooperation between Wuhan and African cities, and allow African youth creative talents to feel the power of Wuhan design in all aspects, and promote the expansion of creative city networks in Africa.

This event was jointly organized by the School of Arts and Communication and International Education College from October 19th to November 3rd, and adopted a combination of “theoretical learning, practical demonstration, seminar and cultural experience class” to carry out online and offline training. During the nearly half a month of training, five teachers from this School, including Peng Jing, Di Cheng, Xu Li, Gong Bin and Zhu Yi, gave online training courses to African creative talents on topics such as design thinking and expression, contemporary public art design, layout design, and hotel design, and conducted offline learning and exchange activities on topics such as layout design, three-dimensional paper art modeling, hotel space design and environmental design. They also visited several representative demonstration areas in Wuhan, such as the Kaoshan Town, China Architecture Science and Technology Museum, the Huangpi Airport New Town Planning Exhibition Hall, and the Airport New Town Smart City Operation Center, fully experiencing the design charm of Wuhan.

Teachers from the School of Arts and Communication give lectures to youth creative talents from Africa

The graduation ceremony of the training program was held in the lecture hall of the East Teaching Building of China University of Geosciences. Rulinda, Mayor of Entebbe, Li Jun, Deputy Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, Cui Jing, Director of the Europe-Africa Division of the Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, Xiao Mengqi, Director of the Survey, Design and Science and Technology Division of Wuhan Municipal Urban-Rural Development Bureau, Chen Si, Regional Affairs Coordinator of the Europe-Africa Division of the Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, He Qingjun, Dean of the School of Arts and Communication of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), and Peng Jing, Deputy Dean of the School of Arts and Communication, attended the event and awarded graduation certificates to African youth who completed the training.

At the graduation ceremony, Mayor Rulinda of Entebbe fully affirmed the role of the “Belt and Road” strategy in promoting economic and cultural exchanges between China and Africa. He said that Africa had benefited a lot from the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, and Africa would continue to cooperate with China to jointly move towards a better future.

Twenty-two African young people received their graduation certificates from the guests and smiled brightly. They expressed the hope of achieving success and applying what they have learned, and they would “Wuhan Design” they had learned back to Africa.