Homepage

Italy-China Centre for Collaboration and Cultural Exchanges The Silk Road

THE SILK ROAD

The Association

The original organization of the Centre was founded in May 2010 with the name East West Cultural Exchanges Centre东西方文化交流学会,which started an intense activity of cultural collaboration with Italian and Chinese Institutions to increase the relations between Italy and China. It established conventions with Beijing China Cultural Association, Beijing Europe China Cultural Exchange Committee and the Academy of Arts and Design of Qinghua University of Beijing. With the Academy it edited a book named Restoration of Italian wall paintings published in Chinese language by Qinghua University Press in 2015. The Italian version, titled Il restauro dei dipinti murali in Italia, was published by Vita&Pensiero, the Publishing House of Catholic University. The two editions were presented in September 2015 at the Milan Expo in a big event conducted by the delegations of Qinghua University’s Arts and Design Academy, Qinghua University Press, the Catholic University of Milan and its Publishing House Vita&Pensiero. In 2016 the Centre was nominated representative for Italy of the Jiangxi Song Chingling Education Foundation, and opened courses for Chinese teachers of primary education, on a collaboration project with Reggio Children Foundation, Reggio Emilia, Italy. In 2017 the Centre was nominated consultant and representative for Italy of the Chinese Montessori Society of Hangzhou, and in 2017 was nominated consultant and representative for Italy of the Research Institute of Culture and Tourism of North-West Region, Xi’an, China 西北大区旅游文化研究院. With this public Institution it started important projects in the fields of culture and tourism exchanges between China and Italy and was invited to participate to several activities, such as the 2017,2018,2019 International Tourism Festivals in the Chinese Provinces of Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Ningxia. Following the diffusion of the Chinese government project named The Belt and Road Initiative, related to the establishment of the New Silk Road, and after the visit of President Xi Jinping to Italy in March 2019, under the Secretariat of Northwest China Tourism Cooperation Zone 中国西北旅游协作区秘书处 suggestion, the East West Cultural Exchanges Centre opened the Italy China Centre for Collaboration and Cultural Exchanges ‘The belt and Road Initiative’ 意大利中国一带一路文化合作交流中心 in Milan。 In 2019 the Secretariat nominated the newly established Centre as its exclusive representative in Italy; consequently, on January 2020 the Secretariat’s delegation from Xi’an came to Milan, to inaugurate on January 11, the new location of the Centre. After the opening, the Centre received the acknowledgment of cultural institutions related with the Lombardy Region Government and Milan Municipality Government, and of the Chinese General Consulate in Milan, Milan In Wheel Association, the Catholic University of Milan, University of Genova and Torino and several cultural institutions and universities in Italy and China. The Centre is now the exclusive representative for Italy of relevant Chinese publishing houses, such as the Jiangxi Educational Publishing House of Nanchang and the Zhejiang University Publishing House of Hangzhou. The Centre, in its capacity as the only representative for Italy of Xi’an Secretariat of Culture and Tourism of the North-West Region, aims to facilitate, organize, mediate and establish contacts between Chinese institutions, public bodies, companies and private organizations and the Italian counterparts, interested in opening joint activities in the field of culture and tourism; organize cultural and educational activities in Italy ; organize visits to Italy for Chinese private and public organizations in order to meet Italian counterparts; develop cultural programs linked to local culture and traditions of both countries; develop cultural exchange and collaboration programs between Italian and Chinese cultural institutions (eg. museums, exhibitions, research plans…).
Giuseppina Merchionne, former professor of Chinese language and culture at the Faculty of Linguistic Sciences of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan and at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Trento, graduated from the Oriental University Institute of Naples and studied at the Beijing University, Taiwan University in Taipei and Columbia University in New York. Scholar of Chinese history, she deals with issues relating to classical and contemporary Chinese culture and society, with numerous publications in Italy and China. In collaboration with local institutions, he has directed various projects concerning the integration of the Chinese community in Milan, overseeing the publication of various essays on the condition of the Chinese diaspora in Italy. Founder academic of the Oriental Studies Class of the Ambrosian Academy, she collaborates with major universities and research institutes in China, such as the Academy of Art and Design of Qinghua University in Beijing, Xi’an University and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. Since 2008 he has been a consultant and representative for Italy of the Jiangxi Region Song Chingling Education Foundation, with which he has opened several training courses for Chinese teachers at the Reggio Children Foundation. Since 2017 he has been a consultant for Italy of the Chinese Montessori Society of Hangzhou, with which he has organized refresher courses for Chinese teachers at the LUMSA University of Rome. For his studies related to the Silk Road, since 2015 he collaborates with the Research Institute of Culture and Tourism of North-West Region of Xi’an, with which, as representative and consultant for Italy, he opened in 2020 in Milan the Italy-China Cultural Exchange and Collaboration Center La Via della Seta, presiding over the implementation of important cultural projects between China and Italy.

Our services

cropped-viadellaseta2
  • Organization of meetings and workshops.
  • Promotion and assistance of contacts between Italian and Chinese organizations.
  • Publication of research studies on China.
  • Organization and promotion of artistic, cultural, sports events related with China.
  • Organization of cultural journeys in China and Italy.
  • Consulting, interpreter and translator services in Italian, English, Chinese.

地球之虹: -一位意大利人眼中的中国五十年变迁
江西教育出版社, 南昌, 2022
(The rainbow of the world: fifty years of history of China seen by an Italian, Jiangxi Education Publishing House, Nanchang, 2022)

Conversazione sulla Cina, Edizioni Vita & Pensiero, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, 2023

命运与共-中意两国携手抗疫“, 浙江大学出版社, 杭州, 2023
Common Destiny Pulse-Up: Italy and China Fighting Covid-19, Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou, 2023

2010 Participation to the Central Chinese Television CCTV 4 programme Five thousand years of characters published by the Office for the Diffusion of Chinese Language, Hanban, of  the Ministry of Education, Beijing.

2010 Assignment by the Academy of Arts and Design of Qinghua University, Beijing for the compilation of the Italian- Chinese- English Glossary of restauration terms, together with the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, published by Qinghua University Press and Catholic University Press in 2015.

2011 Appointment by the Jiangxi Song Qing Ling Foundation as consultant for Italy in charge of the contacts between the Foundation and the international organizations for children education, in Italy in collaboration with Reggio Children, Reggio Emilia.

2012 Participation to the seminar of the Catholic University of Milan Italy-China: a confrontation of art and aesthetics. Art history, conservation and collecting between tradition and new tendencies, with several lectures collected in a volume titled Italia-Cina: arte ed estestiche a confronto, published by Vita&Pensiero, 2014.

2013 Assignment by the Academy of Arts and Design of Qinghua University of the writing of the volume Restoration of Italian Wall Paintings, together with experts of the Art Restoration Academy of Turin, the National Restoration Centre of Roma, the Art Restoration Centre of Florence, published by Qinghua University Press in 2015 with the title Restoration of Italian Wall Paintings, the Italian version titled Il restauro dei dipinti murali in Italia published by Vita&Pensiero.

2014 Invitation by the Centre for Chinese Language & Culture, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore to the International Conference on the New Horizons of Diasporic Chinese Studies: Evolving Themes, Changing Frameworks, Future Directions, Singapore, with the research Young Chinese entrepreneurs in Milan, Italy, published in Singapore by the Nanyang Technological University Press, 2014.

2015 Appointment by the Government of Lombardy Region as consultant for Chinese affairs for MILANO EXPO 2015 in charge of the reception of Chinese delegations.

2015 Organization of the visit of the delegation of the Academy of Arts and Design and the Publishing House of Qinghua University in Italy and their participation to EXPO on September 16, 17, with a Forum discussing the following items: 1) Art and Restoration between Italy and China with the presentation of the volume Restoration of Wall Paintings in Italy; 2) Italian Design with the presentation of the volume Car Design of an expert designer of the Centre, published in Chinese by Qinghua University Press; 3) Export of Italian wine to China with representatives of the major Chinese wine import companies; 4) Presentation of the Italian-Chinese- English glossary on fashion and textiles, published by the Università di Napoli l’Orientale.

2016 Invitation as Italian representative to the Opening Cerimony of the Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing. September 10.

2016 Invitation to represent Italy to the First International Forum for China Elderly, September 22, by the Qingdao Forum on Elderly Care and Health System with the research The Italian elderly care system.

2017 Appointment as consultant and representative for Italy by the Qingdao Montessori Society, February 26.

2017 Appointment by the President of the Culture Committee of EU-China Commission, as representative Office of the Chinese Committee in Milan with the title of Italy-China The Belt and Road Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation Centre.

2017 Appointment by the Committee for Culture and Education of the Beijing and Tianjin Huaxia Association for Cultural Promotion as partner in a programme of exchanging Italian and Chinese primary and secondary students.

2017 Appointment as consultant and representative for Italy of the Hangzhou Montessori Society Hangzhou, China.

2017 Appointment as consultant and representative for Italy of the Research Institute of Culture and Tourism of North-West Region, Xi’an, China.

2017 Appointment as representative for Italy to the World Village Congress, Xi’an by the Shaanxi Provincial Tourism Development Commission, December 6-8.

2018 Appointment as specially hired senior advisor by Northwest Tourism Culture Institute, Xi’an, March 31.

2018 Invitation from the Shaanxi Province, Weinan Municipal Tourism Development Committee, to represent Italy at the 2018 Quality Tourism Forum, March 28-April 2.

2018 Appointment to professor Merchionne as member of the First Silk Road Tourist Women List organized by the Research Institute of Culture and Tourism of North-West Region, Xi’an.

2018 Invitation by the People’s Government of Liuba County, Shaanxi Province, to visit the Liuba County Middle School’s Football School, the first football school in China, August 26-28.

2018-2019 Participation to a Radio and TV Network Show at Radio Trinità, Milan, called Welcome on board, with 38 broadcasts in Italian and Chinese languages on the main features of the culture of Italy and China.

2019 Invitation to represent Italy to the International Tourism Festival of Qinghai Province, April 10-15.

2019 Invitation by the Chinese Society of World Cinema to visit the China First Film Factory, Changchun, Jilin Province, August 8-20.

2019 Invitation to represent Italy to the Symposium on Global Collections of Chinese Silk, 2019, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, October 9-11, with a research on History of Italian Silk Production.

2019 Appointment as consultant and representative for Italy of the Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou, October 11.

2019 Appointment as consultant and representative for Italy of the Jiangxi Education Publishing House, Nanchang, October 13.

2019 Invitation to represent Italy to the Second Festival of the Tourism Culture of the Yellow River, Gaoqing, Shandong Province, October 19-21.

2020 Visit of the delegation of the Secretariat of Northwest China Tourism Cooperation Zone, Xi’an, to Milan for the inauguration ceremony of the location of the Italian Representative Office at the Centre, January 11.

Centre The Silk Road

Centre The Silk Road

Centre The Silk Road

Contats

How to reach us by public transport:

Bus lines 90 and 91
Viale Toscana-Via Vittadini stop

Tram 24
Viale Isonzo/Via Ripamonti stop

Nearest subway MM3
Lodi Tibb stop

Address

Viale Toscana 12A, 20136 Milano