A symposium themed “Upholding Fundamentals While Pursuing Innovation: Inheriting and Promoting Shanghai-Style Culture in the New Era” was recently held at Bingang Commercial Center. Co-hosted by the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations (SFSSA) and the Publicity Department of the CPC Hongkou District Committee, the event drew Wang Weisong, Party Secretary and Full-time Vice Chairman of SFSSA; Wu Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and Director of the Publicity Department; and Li Zhimin, Deputy Director of the Research Office of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee. Experts and scholars discussed the connotations, historical evolution and contemporary positioning of Shanghai-style culture, proposing fresh ideas for its inheritance and advancement.
Wang Weisong stated that Shanghai-style culture is deeply rooted in China’s fine traditional culture. It should absorb strengths from diverse cultures while preserving local cultural origins, safeguarding the city’s cultural heritage and embracing innovation for the future. He emphasized the need to properly balance three sets of relationships: tradition and innovation, cultural subjectivity and openness, academic depth and public accessibility. Cultural development should retain core identity without stagnation and embrace diversity without losing foundational roots. Moving forward, SFSSA will unite social science researchers across the city to deepen research, interpretation and public outreach, pooling collective efforts to elevate the “Shanghai Culture” brand and set a benchmark for cultural confidence and prosperity.
Mao Shi’an, Former Vice Chairman of the China Literary and Art Critics Association, traced the evolution of Shanghai-style culture and defined it as a distinctive cultural form nurtured by Shanghai’s urban landscape. Huang Changyong, President of Shanghai Theatre Academy, highlighted Hongkou’s profound cultural heritage and proposed deeper integration of Chinese traditional aesthetics and folk elements with local cultural resources to burnish Hongkou’s signature Shanghai-style cultural brand. Shao Qi, Professor at the College of Fine Arts, Shanghai Normal University, argued that authentic Shanghai-style culture exudes cultural self-confidence, originates from grassroots communities and relies on broad public participation. Liu Haibo, Professor at the Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University, unpacked Hongkou’s century-long cinematic legacy, noting that the Shanghai Film Critics Awards have settled in Hongkou for the past two years. He recommended revitalizing cultural landmarks such as Taping Road Film Street to showcase Shanghai’s unique cultural charm. Xu Tao, Director of the Shanghai History Research Office and Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Historical Studies at the Institute of History, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, suggested aligning research on Shanghai-style culture with Shanghai’s urban spirit and character, clarifying its interconnections with Red Culture and Jiangnan Culture to deliver rigorous, targeted theoretical support for Shanghai’s urban cultural development.
All participants agreed that the seminar provided a valuable platform for scholars to exchange views on the theoretical framework of Shanghai-style culture and advance its inheritance and innovative practice. Attendees also advised Hongkou to leverage physical venues to showcase the integration of tradition and modernity within Shanghai-style culture and host more high-quality cultural events to unlock creative vitality and display the enduring appeal of Shanghai-style culture in the new era.
In recent years, guided by its development strategy of “Three Cultural Zones”, Hongkou has steadily advanced the inheritance and innovation of Shanghai-style culture, revitalized historic architecture, and pioneered innovative theoretical communication platforms including “Hongkou Theoretical Dissemination” and “One Unique Cultural Brand per Sub-district”. Key challenges remain: exploring the core spiritual identity of Shanghai-style culture, unlocking its contemporary value, and forging an innovation path with distinct Hongkou characteristics. Taking this seminar as a starting point, Hongkou will absorb expert recommendations, advance both theoretical research and public cultural practice, optimize the spatial layout of Shanghai-style cultural venues, and convert abundant cultural resources into driving forces for high-quality development.