On May 18, the World Museum Day, the China-ASEAN cultural exchange event was grandly opened at the East-West Cultural Exchange Center of Reignwood ASEAN Health Industry Park. The event was co-hosted by China News Service and Beijing Reignwood Culture Foundation, and included a cultural forum on "exploring cultural exchange and mutual learning along the Belt and Road" and an exhibition on Belt and Road cultural heritage architecture.

The event was held at both Bangkok and Beijing through video link. More than 200 government officials, entrepreneurs, experts, scholars and media friends from China and Thailand attended the cultural feast, passing on history and culture and promoting mutual learning among civilizations.

H.E.Mr. Arthayudh Srisamoot, Ambassador of Thailand to China said in his video speech, “The close friendship between Thailand and China, can be seen in the saying that Thailand and China are a family. I'm very happy today that on the occasion of the World Museum Day, the Reignwood East and West Center for cultural exchange of ASEAN has been established and glad that this center will be able to help to promote more cooperation, more friendship, more cultural exchanges, and serve as a forum for cooperation between Thailand and China in the future.”

Chairman of Reignwood Group Yan Danhua noted that, “Today is the International Museum Day. "Museums, Sustainability with the Good Life" is the theme of this year. After the post-epidemic era, the people of China and ASEAN countries are more eager for exchanges, development, and health. This is also our intention for the opening of this event. I think the opening of Reignwood East-West Cultural Exchange Center today is a beginning for the future. We will use this platform to create many more new contributions for the Belt and Road initiative between China and ASEAN countries. "

Reignwood East-West Cultural Exchange Center is designed by the team of Professor Lv Zhou, Director of the National Heritage Center of Tsinghua University. It draws on the wisdom of traditional Chinese architecture and carries the beautiful symbolism of "longevity and benevolence" from the Analects of Confucius. It is a cultural platform for promoting cultural exchange and mutual learning between China and countries along the Belt and Road by preserving and carrying forward the traditional Chinese woodworking construction technique. This northern Chinese official-style architecture cluster is inspired by the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (Renshoudian) and fully embodies the traditional Chinese wooden structure construction technique, with 13 buildings covering an area of about 10,000 square meters. The total number of wooden components used for the architecture is about 350,000, making it the largest ancient Chinese traditional architecture overseas in the past half century. The building fully complies with the northern official-style architecture construction technique, reflecting the features of ancient architecture, such as rules, shapes and specifications, while properly meeting modern use functions.

From 2020 to 2023, under the support and promotion of Reignwood Culture Foundation, craftsmen from Beijing, Quanzhou and Bangkok, including Liu Dashan, who received the Special Contribution Award from the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Weng Guoqiang, an inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage, as well as masons, carpenters, carvers, stonemasons, painters, etc completed the complex processes of construction. They spent over 1,000 days in presenting this intangible cultural heritage of traditional wooden structure construction technique to countries and regions along the Belt and Road, making it an important window to showcase Chinese civilization and culture, and enhance cultural understanding and friendship.

At the cultural forum of the event, centering around the topics of the Beauty of Architectures on the Belt and Road and the Protection and Development of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Mr. Lv Zhou, Professor of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Mr. Jing Feng, Chief of Asia-Pacific Unit of UNESCO World Heritage Center, Mr. Nitisak, a Thai architectural expert, and Mr. Wang Qijun, Professor of Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Ms. Shen Zhu, cultural heritage expert and consultant of Reignwood Group, had an in-depth exchange.