China Congratulates Greece on Founding Ancient Civilizations Center

China’s President Xi Jinping congratulated Greece on the founding of the Center of Chinese and Greek Ancient Civilizations, Xinhua News Agency reports.

The Chinese leader has replied to a letter from Professor Stelios Virvidakis of the University of Athens and four other Greek scholars hailing the establishment of the Center that was launched on Monday at the University of Athens.

The Center (KELKIP) is an initiative of four Greek university institutions and the Chinese universities of South West, Renmin, Shandong and Sichuan with the main objective of promoting the comparative study of the two ancient cultures, their evolution, but also their modern reception and interpretation.

China and Greece’s contribution to civilization

Hailing the long history of the Chinese civilization and the profound influence of the ancient Greek civilization, Xi said in the letter that more than 2,000 years ago, the two civilizations shone brightly on the two ends of the Eurasian continent, jointly making a fundamental contribution to the evolution of human civilization.

Now, it is of great historical and contemporary significance for the two countries to establish the center, which is committed to promoting exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations and promoting the development of civilizations of various countries, said Xi, according to Xinhua.

Xi stressed that in the long course of human history, various nations have created civilizations with their own characteristics and symbols, which jointly form a colorful garden of human civilization.

Civilizations are the rich accumulation of historical exploration and also an underlying guide to the survival and development of the nations, he said.

The Center to contribute in the understanding of civilizations

In order to promote the development of human society and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, we must deeply understand and grasp the age-old origins and rich contents of different civilizations and let the essence of all civilizations benefit the present generation and all mankind, Xinhua quotes him as saying.

Xi said he believes that the center will certainly make a great contribution in this regard.

He pointed out that people can know the present by making references to the past and they often carry forward the undertakings of their predecessors to open up a new path for the future.

History has amply proved that human civilization can continue to thrive and prosper by sticking to inclusiveness and openness, the Chinese president said.

The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, Xi said, adding that to solve outstanding contradictions and problems facing mankind, it is necessary to rely on material means to overcome difficulties and rely on the strength of the spirit to rectify the mind through thinking with sincerity.

The values, as well as views of the world, universe, life, science, and culture contained in Chinese and Greek civilizations, are profound and timeless and are sure to provide important spiritual guidance for mankind to solve the problems of the times and promote the building of a community with a shared future.

During his state visit to Greece in 2019, Xi and the Greek leaders jointly advocated exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations.

After the visit, the two sides actively implemented the consensus of the leaders and made preparations for the establishment of the Center of Chinese and Greek Ancient Civilizations.