(August 29, 2007, Beijing) The grand opening of Exhibition on Achievements of "BMW China Culture Journey" 2007 is held at the Capital Museum in Beijing on August 29 with BMW China and BMW Brilliance Automotives as joint sponsors. Present at the opening ceremony are leaders from Beijing municipal culture and cultural relics departments, journalists from medial outlets in Beijing, and the fleet members of "BMW China Culture Journey" 2007. Dr. Christoph Stark, President & CEO of BMW Group Region China, attends the news conference of the opening ceremony and delivers a few opening remarks.
As an important part of "BMW China Culture Journey", the exhibition presents to the public the whole journey and achievements of "BMW China Culture Journey" 2007 with photos and objects. And it sets up a convenient and open platform for visitors to have a closer look at the ancient Chinese civilization and cultural heritage so as to spread and raise the awareness of the general public on cultural heritage protection.
We have worked to make this exhibition a vivid and complete presentation of the rich fruits of the "BMW China Culture Journey" 2007: pictures that reflect the essence of the tangible and intangible cultural heritages and documentaries that show the beautiful scenes way through Beijing and Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, such as the magnificent Qilian Mountain, the mysterious Mogao Grottoes, the glorious Jinci Temple and the Cacique Huang Mausoleum. Moreover, there are also many vivid pictures of folk arts which are not familiar yet to people in Beijing, including Gongguzi Dance and Lantian Water Party Music. Objects exhibited have been all collected from their original places during the journey. In addition to the typical local clay sculpture, lacquer works, Piying Drama and paper-cutting, the paper made following the exact ancient style and procedure of Cai Lun (inventor of paper-making) from Shaanxi Province and the thousand-year-old Hexi Priceless Scrolls and Luminous Jade Cup from the Silk Road have been showed for the first time in Beijing.
In addition to well-described pictures, advanced audio/video technology is also used to help visitors get a better understand of the contents.
At the opening ceremony, Gao Zhenggang and Xing Jishan, the over 70-year-old Hexi Priceless Scrolls performers from Gansu Province, did their feat before an audience of more than 100 journalists and distinguished guests. In addition, a famous paper-cutting artist Wang Jiru, who is a national cross-sectional inheritor of the immateriality cultural heritage certificated by Ministry of Culture, from Pingyao, Shanxi will give a week-long performance of paper-cutting. Paper-cutting is an art form that has been going down from generation to generation for over 1,000 years.
The two-week-long Exhibition on Achievements of "BMW China Culture Journey" 2007 will be held at the basement of the Capital Museum till September 13.
"BMW pursues a long-term and harmonious development of business and society, and cultural promotion is one of the key components of the BMW corporate social contribution program. We hope that ‘BMW China Culture Journey' will promote the protection and preservation of the splendid Chinese cultural heritage," says Dr. Christoph Stark, President & CEO of BMW Group Region China, at the press conference. "We sincerely invite the public to come to this show or visit our web site and then tell more people about what they see. We call for more attention and support from them so that we are more confident with our endeavor and will achieve more with this special journey that will go on with different themes and routes year by year."
"BMW China Culture Journey" 2007 was launched on June 12 and a fleet of 15 BMW cars set off from the Capital Museum. In the following 12 days, they passed through Zhoukoudian Peking Man Relics in Beijing and Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu and arrived at its destination -- Dunhuang. Fleet members included journalists, cultural heritage experts, cultural celebrities and BMW car owners. With deep love for the Chinese civilization and responsibility for safeguarding their spiritual home, they were driving all the way to the western China region and visited important cultural and artistic treasures in Beijing, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu. They also studied and documented the existing conditions of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
During the journey, BMW also donated a total of 1 million RMB to the cultural heritage protection organizations of the provinces and cities along the route in order to help protect and pass on material and non-material cultural heritages. Material and non-material cultural heritage projects that have received BMW donations include: Zhoukoudian Peking Man Relics in Beijing, YIcheng Drum in Shanxi Province, Chang'an Drum Music in Shaanxi Province, and Gongguzi Dance and Hexi Priceless Scrolls in Gansu Province.
BMW Corporate Social Contribution Activities in China focus on five areas: Culture Promotion, Education Support, Environment Protection, Consumer Integration and Corporate Governance, which is a long-term commitment of BMW to the Chinese market. Other projects in progress now include sponsoring the Liaoning Provincial Ballet Troupe, the "BMW China Outstanding College Students Award Fund" jointly established with China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, "BMW Children Traffic Safety Education Training Camp" – a long-term project targeting at the kindergarten kids aged between 4 and 6 years old, and clean energy promotion as well as BMW Hydrogen 7 test driving projects in the major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
