Common culture serves as a bridge between Chinese-speaking people on either side of the Taiwan Straits. That's the idea promoted by top Taiwan lyricist, Vincent Fang, in a lecture in Beijing.
Fang is a lyricist from Taiwan, famous throughout Asia. He's best known for his poetic style, which draws on Chinese tradition. In recent years, he's been popularising Chinese characters and traditional culture to young people.
Fang has combined calligraphy with some of his hit songs. And the students are taking to this type of music video.
"If we promote traditional Chinese culture through conventional ways like seminars and exhibitions, it will be hard to appeal to people who have little interest in this area," Fang said.
"But if we resort to popular ways such as pop music, I believe we'll get many more people to pay attention to our traditional culture."
Another thing Fang promotes is the traditional Chinese clothing known as Hanfu. Three years ago, he started an annual Hanfu festival in Xitang, an ancient town in East China's Zhejiang Province. This year, thousands of young people took part in parades, runway shows, singing competitions, and sketching.
When pop music figures like Vincent Fang get involved in cultural activities, young people pay attention. Through promoting traditional Chinese culture shared by both sides of the Strait, Fang brings young people on the Mainland and Taiwan closer together.
"Both Taiwan and the Mainland shared the same culture, which is the foundation for our common sense of ethnic identity. So I believe traditional culture, including calligraphy and opera, is the best medium to bridge the two sides together," Fang said.
Cross-Strait cultural exchanges are set to see new heights. The Mainland put a priority on cooperation in all areas, including culture, in its development plan for the next five years, released early this month.
And on November 7th, leaders from the two sides joined hands at a historic meeting in Singapore, agreeing on the need for deeper exchange and dialogue.
For young people, cultural exchanges have enabled them to understand each other a lot better. And that's something they want more of.
"I really wish we could have more lectures like this. And I hope teachers from the Mainland could go to Taiwan more frequently. In this way, we can learn from each other in terms of different understandings of our traditional culture," said Ms. Xiong, Peking University student.
"What I hope the most is that one day students from both sides will fully know each other, like how you think, why you do that, what you want most, and how you live your daily life, and no more barriers between us," said Mao Wei, Lecture Organizer, Chair of PKU Taiwan Research Association.
