A handshake between past and future

A Buddhist temple with more than a millennium of history may seem firmly rooted in the past. But on the contemporary stage, it is finding new forms through theater, digital imagery and a younger generation's imagination.

How cultural heritage can transform through artistic creation was a central theme at a parallel discussion titled "Cultural Heritage and Artistic Creation", held on Sept 23 as part of the 2026 Beijing Culture Forum.

Tian Qinxin, president of the National Theatre of China and a veteran director, noted that heritage should not be treated simply as something to be preserved but as a source of inspiration for contemporary artists.

"Cultural heritage and artistic creation meeting each other is a handshake between the past and the future," Tian said in her keynote speech, drawing on three productions by the National Theatre of China to illustrate different ways of bringing heritage to contemporary theater.

One example is Beijing Fayuan Temple, a Chinese play directed by Tian and set against the backdrop of the historic temple, one of Beijing's oldest, which was built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

For audiences, Tian said, the experience offers more than a theatrical story. It provides another way to encounter a real historical site and its story.

The play has toured across China since its December 2015 premiere. It will return to the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Oct 11, 12, 15 and 17.

"Cultural heritage does not survive by being repeated word for word," Tian said. "It survives when each generation finds a way to understand, reinterpret, and bring it to life."

The idea of cultural renewal also extends beyond national borders, as artists from diverse backgrounds encounter one another and bring new perspectives to their work.

Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, former French ambassador to China and president of the Cite internationale des arts in Paris, described artistic exchange as a way of building understanding across cultural differences.

"Artists' encounters are the best way to discover the other, to know the other better and ultimately understand each other despite differences," he said on Tuesday, the opening day of the 2026 Beijing Culture Forum.

For Gourdault-Montagne, the principle is central to the mission of the Cite internationale des arts, founded 60 years ago.

Among its long-standing Chinese partners are the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University, and the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. Over the past six decades, 2,375 Chinese artists have participated in residencies at the Cite, he said.

To Gourdault-Montagne, such encounters are not an addition to artistic creation but part of the creative process.

"Encounters between artists from different cultural backgrounds help foster creation, stimulate ideas, and allow people to know themselves better through contact with others," he said.

That process of renewal, however, depends not only on technology or artistic experimentation, but also on the people who will carry culture forward.

Hu Qiang, president of the Beijing Film Academy and veteran director, said at the forum: "Cultural heritage can only become a living tradition when it enters the emotions and creativity of contemporary people", making the education of young artists crucial to its future.

Hu drew on his recent appearance in the television drama The Lead, in which he played the leader of a Qinqiang Opera (one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera, particularly popular in northwestern China) troupe, reflecting on the relationship between traditional culture and contemporary storytelling.

The role brought him closer to Qinqiang Opera and reminded him that heritage is sustained not only through distinctive costumes, musical styles and stage conventions, but through the people who perform, teach, and preserve it.

"Tradition exists in these specific people, in their lives, and in the creativity of generations," Hu said.