Local Chronicles Experts from Across China Gather in Huangpu to Explore Guangzhou’s Millennia-Old Urban, Cultural and Commercial Heritage

The sub-forum on “Local Documents and Guangzhou’s Millennia-Old Cultural, Urban and Commercial Heritage” is held in Huangpu District, Guangzhou. Photo by Jia Zihao

The sub-forum on “Local Documents and Guangzhou’s Millennia-Old Cultural, Urban and Commercial Heritage” was recently held in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, bringing together nearly 130 representatives from local chronicles institutions across China, as well as experts and scholars.

The event was a sub-forum of the Forum on Chinese Local Chronicles and Fine Traditional Chinese Culture. It also marked the first in a series of academic seminars organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee to commemorate 2,240 years since Guangzhou’s founding and 1,800 years since the city received its name. With its broad historical perspective and strong contemporary relevance, the forum attracted widespread attention from the academic community.

Focusing on these two historical milestones, the forum solicited more than 200 academic papers from across the country, reflecting the strong interest of scholars nationwide in both the event and local chronicles work. Contributors came from local chronicles institutions, universities, research institutes, government agencies and other organizations across China. Their participation fostered extensive collaboration and mutual learning between local history and chronicles professionals and academic researchers, producing a number of substantial and valuable research findings.

Building on these findings, the forum upheld the principles of compiling local chronicles for practical use and drawing on history to inform governance. Through local documents, participants examined Guangzhou’s distinctive urban character, shaped by the interconnected development of its urban, cultural and commercial heritage, and explored the contemporary value of these records. The forum also offered Guangzhou’s experience as a reference for the high-quality development of local chronicles work in megacities.

(By Xu Wan)