獻辭
Congratulatory Message
Our nation is committed to sharing and disseminating Chinese culture. In an era when promoting cultural exchange and mutual learning has become a trend, the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is in full swing. The Development Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is duly hosting the Greater Bay Area Built Heritage Summit, which is dedicated to discussing the conservation, revitalisation, education, promotion of, and application of digital technologies to, heritage buildings, with the aim of fostering cross-disciplinary and cross-regional collaboration. This is of great significance for strengthening the protection and utilisation of Lingnan cultural heritage and for creating a cultural heritage preservation and generational-legacy system in the GBA. On behalf of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, I would like to take this opportunity to warmly congratulate the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on its 25th anniversary and wish the Greater Bay Area Built Heritage Summit great success!
Macao’s unique history of over four centuries of international exchange has shaped today’s harmonious society and its rich cultural environment. The “Historic Centre of Macao”, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, includes more than 600 Chinese and Western heritage buildings, which are representative of significant traditions and customs of intangible cultural heritage blending Chinese and Western cultures, bearing witness to Macao’s history as a city where Chinese culture has always flourished, co-existing harmoniously with diverse cultures and manifesting the Chinese people’s openness, tolerance, inclusiveness and broad-mindedness.
Therefore, in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA, our nation has entrusted Macao with the mission of bringing to fruition “a platform for exchange and collaboration with Chinese culture as the mainstream and co-existence of diverse cultures”. Based on this strategic approach to cultural development, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao has actively established collaboration with its sister cities in the GBA in such fields as the promotion of World Heritage, the rehabilitation of heritage buildings, and the continuous development of cultural heritage education particularly among the young generation.
We have executed or participated in a number of related events and projects, including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA Culture and Art Festival, the World Cultural Heritage Carnival of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA, the Cultural Heritage Summer Course for Secondary School Students of the Mainland, and the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, and the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao Symposium on the Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings. And now, inspired by the main theme of “the conservation of traditional Lingnan architecture”, we have invited experts from Guangdong to provide training to Macao professionals. At the same time, with the aim of further fulfilling Macao’s designated role as a platform for Sino-international cultural exchange, we have also been actively promoting communication and cooperation with the Cities Alliance of Maritime Silk Road Conservation and World Heritage Nomination on the Mainland, as well as with overseas cities along the Maritime Silk Road, and with World Heritage preservation organisations in Portuguese-speaking countries and throughout the world. We have also participated and organized cultural forums, and supported exchange and training opportunities focusing on World Heritage and heritage buildings, as part of Macao’s designated role as “one platform” among the GBA cites.
As an integral part of the Lingnan region since ancient times, Macao and its sister cities of the GBA share the same cultural roots. Looking ahead, particularly in response to our nation’s call to promote exchange and mutual learning across different civilisations, to foster closer people-to-people ties with other countries, and to expand exchanges and cooperation in the field of heritage preservation among the Belt and Road countries, Macao will make even more strenuous efforts to work with its sister cities to promote the conservation, inheritance, revitalisation and adaptive reuse of cultural heritage in the GBA, with the aspiration of making new contributions and writing a new chapter in the development of cultural heritage endeavours in this new era, thus enriching the public’s understanding of Chinese civilisation and enhancing the influence of Chinese culture.
LEONG Wai Man
President of Cultural Affairs Bureau
Macao Special Administrative Region