???????The third Liangzhu Forum opened Saturday in Hangzhou, bringing together over 300 global experts to explore cultural heritage and diversity, and spotlight China’s growing role in world heritage protection.

With the theme of "Revitalization of Civilization: Cultural Heritage and Human Culture Diversity", the forum invited over 300 heads of cultural heritage protection and management institutions, museum directors, archaeologists and historians from more than 60 countries and regions.
"Today, experts and scholars from all over the world are gathered at the Liangzhu Forum to exchange ideas. I believe that China's experience will surely be passed on to the world, and at the same time, the leading international concept of heritage protection will take root and sprout in China," said Jiang Bo, vice chairman of the ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites) China.
"I think it is a very innovative model for the conservation management of cultural heritage. So also for us coming from Europe, it is an opportunity to exchange best practices, a different way to investigate and to manage our cultural heritage. It can promote dialogue. So I think the cultural heritage is a sort of softer power because it's strategic asset which can enable to create relations, good relations between country, between peoples," said Nicola Masini, research director of the Institute of Heritage Science under the Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISPC).
The forum is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Cultural Heritage Administration, and the Zhejiang Provincial Government.
Cultural events will also be held during the forum, such as the Liangzhu Cultural and Creative Bazaar and the "Light of Liangzhu" special concert jointly held by Chinese and U.S. symphony orchestras.
Located in the Yangtze River Basin of Zhejiang Province, the archeological ruins of Liangzhu, dating back at least 5,000 years, reveal an early regional state with a unified belief system based on rice cultivation in the late Neolithic Period (around 7000-1700 BC). The archeological site is recognized as one of the earliest examples of Chinese civilization.