Forum told pandemic's influence to run deep into city cultures

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an acute impact on people’s daily lives and will continue to do so, experts said at a forum on culture.

“Everything is changing with the abrupt outbreak of this pandemic,” said Mathias Woo, artistic co-director at Hong Kong’s Zuni Icosahedron, in an online contribution to the 2020 Global City Culture Forum (Shanghai) hosted by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

The online meetings have become a new normal to constitute a kind of new culture.

Chen Shenglai, dean of Shanghai Institute of International Cultural Studies, said that as an important part of culture, international communication needs to focus more on pandemic control and share with others how success was earned to paint a good global image of China.

The forum will run through December 28, and will discuss various cultural topics including cultural exchanges along the Belt and Road regions, futurism, the cultural heritage of Shanghai and online experiences of culture.