Lin Lin

linlinasa@163.com

ALAN MACFARLANE, a renowned historian and anthropologist from Cambridge University, has become the first expat member of Pingshan Think Tank on Cultural Affairs.

On Friday afternoon, Pingshan District held this year’s first plenary meeting of its think tank on cultural affairs and announced the appointment of Macfarlane as a new member of the think tank.

The appointment ceremony, held online through a video call previously made, followed a conversation between Macfarlane and Wu Jun, head of the district’s publicity department.

During the conversation, Macfarlane said that one of the effects the COVID-19 pandemic will bring to the world is education, which should be directed more toward imagination as new technologies such as AI will change the way of work and give people more free time, and this is especially relevant to Shenzhen and Pingshan, which he describes as having “a very young population.”

“You have the great advantage of starting with an almost blank sheet, so you can do what you like. You have much more freedom than an old country like ours which is already going in a certain direction,” said Macfarlane when talking about Pingshan.

After the ceremony, the think tank, including some members attending online, had a themed discussion on cultural changes in the post-pandemic era, and ecology was highlighted by a number of the think tank members.

“Natural landscapes, such as mountains, forests, rivers and waterfalls are scattered across Pingshan. Half of it is a natural environment while the other half is an urban environment. In the future, Pingshan should actively explore the integration of nature, art and culture and offer its experience to Shenzhen in the city’s building of a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” said Nan Zhaoxu, a researcher on local nature and history.

Sun Zhenhua, a professor from the China Academy of Art, proposed to hold an ecological art festival in Pingshan while Tang Keyang, an architect and professor from Southern University of Science and Technology, suggested building ecological communities with high-quality living and cultural environments to attract talented employees of all kinds.

The think tank also touched on various topics such as combining traditional and innovative cultures, integrating cultural development into community life and dealing with changes brought by online experience such as virtual exhibitions in a post-pandemic era.

Dedicated to Pingshan’s cultural development, the think tank has gathered thinkers, scholars and experts from various fields such as art, design, and cultural as well as natural studies from across China.