Zhao Leji (center), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, attends the inauguration ceremony for the Chinese School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Gao Xiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), accompanied Zhao to attend the event. Also present at the ceremony were Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, leaders from the Standing Committee of the NPC and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary General of the committee for education at the Hellenic Parliament Angeliki Delikari, Chinese Ambassador to Greece Fang Qiu, chairman of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation in Greece, and other guests.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Gao underscored the academy’s responsibility to inherit history, promote enduring classics, and further civilizational progress. He stated that CASS would earnestly study and implement Chinese President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter to the first World Conference of Classics to construct a basic theoretical system for classical studies under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. The goal, Gao noted, is to foster a Chinese school for the field—one that preserves history, inherits culture, and upholds academic traditions, leveraging the collective strength of CASS to ensure the sound operation of the CSCSA. Efforts will be made to trace the origins of human thoughts and explore the traditions of human civilization together with experts, scholars, and visionary figures from all over the world in the spirit of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness, thereby advancing the creative transformation and innovative development of classical civilization in the contemporary world.
In her speech, Mendoni highly praised the profound significance of establishing the CSCSA in Athens. She emphasized that the establishment of the CSCSA heralds a new chapter of exchanges between Chinese and Greek civilizations and represents a joint commitment to academic research. Mendoni expressed her expectation that the CSCSA could serve as a cultural bridge connecting the two nations, enhancing bilateral knowledge exchanges and friendship between the two peoples while fundamentally filling the gap in comparative studies of Eastern and Western civilizations.
Backed by both the Chinese and Greek governments, the CSCSA was established to fulfill the important consensus between President Xi Jinping and Greek leaders on tightening the bond of exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations. As the first institution focusing on classical studies founded by an Asian country in Athens, the CSCSA aims to encourage in-depth research by Chinese academics on Greek civilization across various eras and other civilizations, strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation alongside talent cultivation in archaeology and civilizational studies between China and Greece, between China and Europe, and among research institutions worldwide, and enhance exchanges and mutual learning as well as historical and cultural collaboration among global civilizations.
As a side event of the ceremony, an exhibition on mutual learning between the East and the West was staged by the CSCSA.