The 18th annual academic meeting on the region's cultural advances and cooperation developments was held in Beijing on June 24-25.[Photo by He Keyao/ chinadaily.com.cn]

Scholars call for better cultural ties within Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the capital and its two neighboring provinces, at the 18th annual academic meeting on the region's cultural advances and cooperation developments held in Beijing on June 24-25.

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration is one of national strategies proposed two years ago and has been regarded as key to promote regional development and to build a new capital circle.

"Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces have the same cultural genes," said Liu Yong, professor of School of Literature of Capital Normal University. He stressed that the three areas belong to the same roots in terms of regional culture, which provides an innate advantage for integration and cooperation.

However, Liu stressed that the so called "capital mentality" and the fact that Beijing has taken much resource from its surrounding areas, whether economically, environmentally or culturally, put obstacle to the process of regional integration.

"The gap between Beijing and the two other areas is deep, resulting in unbalanced development," said Liu Yong, citing the example that Hebei province is experiencing "university shortage" while Beijing has the highest number of educational institutions in the countries, even though they are next to each other.

He said Shanghai is a good example in terms of regional integration, Shanghai's surrounding areas, such as Ningbo, Hangzhou, Jiaxing cities, benefit from the big metropolitan's success, both economically and culturally.

Meanwhile, cultural identity is another fundamental problem for integration. Unbalanced development and social differences make it harder for people from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area to identify themselves as one. The key word "cultural identity" was the most talked about among experts and scholars at the meeting.

More than 130 experts and scholars from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei participated in the two-day event, with varied topics ranging from cultural heritage protection, tourism, history, education, media, and publication to cultural industry development. More than 40 academic essays were produced and submitted.