From August 6th to September 1st, 30 young people between the ages of 16 and 20 were invited to join in the discussions at CAFA, Beijing on the role of the arts and museums in the context of this globalized world. This event was co-organized by the Dresden State Art Collections, the Berlin State Museums, the Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich and the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Chen Tianchan was recommended and selected as one of representatives of Chinese young talent and plays an active part in this International Youth Congress and brings us his insightful views.

Chaired by Felicitas von Mallinckrodt and Zheng Qinyan, the final presentation and panel discussion entitled “Shortening Our Distance” held on the afternoon of August 30th with many honorable guests present, including Peter Anders, the director of the Goethe Institute, China; Xu Bing, the vice president of CAFA; Yu Ding, the vice dean of the College of Humanities, CAFA; Zhu Qingsheng, the professor of Peking University etc.. It provided an excellent opportunity for young students from China, Germany, Russia and India to present their concerns and propositions for future exhibitions in museums. As an elucidator of Group III, Chen Tianchan described the premise of their ideas for the Chinese Central Museum. They attached great importance to national culture and presented a special exhibition on the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-598) in their ideal museum. Group I demonstrated their ideas for a museum in Russia named “Look out! Super Nationalism” to renew your people’s patriotism. Group II explained their understanding of “The Art of Eating” in their design of a museum for India. Group IV furnished their museum in Germany with cosmopolitan cultures to promote communications among different countries. Through the dialogues among the young students and experts, they shared their experience with each other and aroused more thoughts on the educational function of museums as well as their future potential development.