Lecture-series on archaeology and civilizations of Europe, Asia and Africa

Another big event in the “Year of Sino-France Cultures” – Lecture-series on archaeology and civilizations of Europe, Asia and Africa sponsored by the France Institute of Far East, the National Library of China and the Research Center of Ancient Civilizations at the CASS was held in Beijing 

As a gift to the “Year of Sino-France Cultures (2004-2005)”, the National Library of China, the France Institute of Far East and the Research Center of Ancient Civilizations at the CASS together sponsor a lecture-series on archaeology and civilizations of Europe, Asia and Africa in order to promote the communication between different civilizations.
Opening ceremony of the series directed by Wang Shan, deputy curator of the Wenjinjie Branch of the National Library of China was held at nine o’clock on 21st April at the Wenjinjie Branch of the National Library of China. Among the distinguished guests, were Mr. Franciscus VERELLEN, dean of the France Institute of Far East, Ms. Fabyene MANSENCAL, officer of cultural affairs of the France embassy in Beijing, Zhang Yafang, deputy curator of the National Library of China and Professor Li Xueqin from the Research Center of Ancient Civilizations.
In the following two and a half days, scholars from main overseas centers of the France Institute of Far East in Spain, Athens, Roma and Cairo introduced their latest  researches. Newsreels of these overseas centers were also screened during the lectures. With the help of interpreters and specialists from the Research Center of Ancient Civilizations, the audiences had learned a lot about the Phoenician and Greece immigrants in Spain, the relationship between the Roma Empire and the Indian Ocean, the Thasos island of ancient Greece, the pyramids in Egypt, the urbanization of Cambodia’s ancient capital Angkor, the archaeological sites in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Sino-France cooperative excavations of civilian residences in the Henan Province, China.
The Wenjinjie Branch of the National Library had started to sponsor weekend lectures from 2001. Till the end of March of 2005, more than 260 lectures had been given to 30, 000 audiences by famous scholars within and without China on different topics. Since 1997, the France Institute of Far East, sponsored by the France Embassy in Beijing, also had begun to give lectures monthly in universities and research institutes on archaeology, history and social sciences. The Research Center of Ancient Civilizations was established in 2000. It  now has more than 200 guest scholars in many countries in Europe, America and Asia and aims at the research of the development of ancient civilizations in China and the world. This is the first time the three well-known institutes hold an event for the academic exchange between French and Chinese scholars.