The “Conversations between two Great Cultures—the new Silk Road” exhibition at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Cairo achieved phenomenal success, and received commendations from vice premier Liu YanDong. As a part of the overarching cultural theme, the “Silk on the Silk Road” exhibition returned to Luxor on the 27th, and unveiled at the Luxor Cultural Center on the 28th.

Present at the opening ceremony included the Secretary to the Minister of Luxor Province Alhamad Naseem, Director of the Luxor Cultural Center Mohammed Mustafa, Director of the Zhejiang Cultural Center Jin XingSheng, Head Office Manager Hu ZhaoDong, Director of Foreign Affairs Office Zhang Yan and others. Mr. Alhamad Naseem, guided by Mr. Jin XingSheng, toured the entire exhibition, and expressed his profound interest in the exhibition content. After the tour, Mr. Jin presented a gift to Mr. Naseem, the famous Dujinsheng Brocade, a traditional silk Brocade from Hangzhou, Zhejiang. A group picture was later taken, containing representatives from bothcountries.

This exhibition was hosted by the Zhejiang Cultural Center and co-hosted by China National Silk Museum. The artwork displayed contained both illustrations and texts to tell the stories about the Silk Road and its history, the Silk Road and its silk, cultural exchange, Zhejiang Culture, the China National Silk Museum, and more. The relevant artifacts presented include: cocoons, facsimiles of ancient silk-weaving looms, plant dye, dyed silk, modern silk hankerchiefs, etc. Artist Zhang ShiJun of Ningbo performed live the “Gold-Silver Embroidery” technique, a technique that is categorized as a National Non-Material Cultural Relic, to add to the Chinese characteristics of the exhibition.

Luxor and Zhejiang are similar in the sense that they were both places of significant cultural value to their countries. Luxor,the ancient Egyptian city, known for its heritage that trace all the way back to the Ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes, contains many important ancient Egyptian artifacts. Zhejiang is the “Silk Capital”. The 7000 year old Hemudu Civilization, the 5000 year old Liangzhu Civilization, and the 4000 year old Qianshangyan Civilization were periods in which silk weaving was establishedand improved, which paved way for Zhejiang to be the undisputed center of silk trade on both the land and maritime Silk Roads. The prevalence of silk around the world advanced the economic and cultural ties between East and West. The purpose of the exhibition is as thus: to enable locals to glimpse at China’s 5000 year old silk sulture, and to promote the cultural exchange and collaboration between Zhejiang and Luxor. (translated by Bi Ran)