Prof. FU Caiwu, dean of National Institute of Cultural Development at Wuhan University, visited IHB on March 2, 2023. (Credit: IHB)

Prof. FU Caiwu, dean of National Institute of Cultural Development at Wuhan University, visited the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on March 2, 2023. During his visit, Prof. Fu gave a presentation with the title of “Chinese culture and the Yangtze River”.    

In his lecture, Professor Fu stressed that culture is an integral part of ecology and ecology is the foundation of culture. Beginning with the importance of the Yangtze civilization and the connection between the city of Wuhan and the Yangtze civilization, the lecture suggested that the Yangtze built the foundation of Chinese rice civilization, and that rice domestication and rice agriculture provided an important material and cultural basis for the development of Huaxia ethnicity in ancient China, as well as a pioneering contribution to humankind.    

From the perspective that the Yangtze River rice civilization shaped the spatial form of Chinese civilization, Prof. Fu suggested that the economic characteristics of rice supported the large-scale population reproduction of Huaxia ethnicity in ancient China, and maintained the continuity of Chinese culture, and that the social organization fostered by the rice economy created the typical Chinese agrarian civilization form.   

Fu also pointed out that the differences between the Yangtze River rice culture and millet (wheat) culture of the Yellow River have built the inner dynamics of Chinese culture.   

Towards the end of the lecture, Fu discussed the significance of the Yangtze River in constructing a new form of civilization for the Chinese nation in the 21st century, and proposed that China is a country of cultural identity, and the Yangtze River, as a "geographical medium", is the "new equipment" through which the country can produce culture and tourism in international communication.   

Prof. Fu is currently dean of National Institute of Cultural Development at Wuhan University, a Changjiang Scholar, and a PhD supervisor. He has long been engaged in research on structural theory of cultural industry, performance mechanism of cultural institutions and cultural tourism policy research.