STORY: Interdisciplinary conference on Marco Polo held in Zagreb
SHOOTING TIME: May 9, 2024
DATELINE: May 10, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:08
LOCATION: Zagreb
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. wide of the Faculty of Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb
2. various of a conference
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): EVA KATARINA GLAZER, Assistant professor at the University of Zagreb
4. various of Marco Polo exhibition
5. various of a conference
6. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): IVANA GUBIC, Assistant at the Department of Sinology at the University of Zagreb
7. various of a conference
8. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): IVANA GUBIC, Assistant at the Department of Sinology at the University of Zagreb

STORYLINE:

An interdisciplinary conference, entitled "East Meets West: Cultural and Economic Contacts between Croatia and Asia from Marco Polo to the Present," was held at the Faculty of Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb. The three-day conference, from May 8-10, attracted many Croatian experts on China and Asia, as well as ambassadors from several Asian countries.
   
Apart from lectures, there was a cultural program with a student exhibition of Marco Polo and a concert in which musicians perform an opera about Marco Polo. On May 10, the conference moves to the Croatian island of Korcula which is allegedly Marco Polo's birthplace. Marco Polo was a medieval Venetian merchant, and he was among the first Europeans to travel along the ancient Silk Road trade route and travel to China.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): EVA KATARINA GLAZER, Assistant professor at the University of Zagreb
"The conference 'East Meets West' is a conference organized by the University of Zagreb based on the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death. Because he was a great explorer and a traveler, we decided to organize a scientific conference based on trade routes between Croatia and countries on the Silk Road."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): IVANA GUBIC, Assistant at the Department of Sinology at the University of Zagreb
"I did a small research about how Croatian high school students perceive China, how interested they are in China, and how much they know about China. And I tried to make a comparison with South Korea and Japan. And it turns out that they, when it comes to China, they know something about Chinese technology, traditional culture, a little bit about this political and economic situation, but very little about, let's say, popular culture, which is very important to get young people interested in Chinese."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): IVANA GUBIC, Assistant at the Department of Sinology at the University of Zagreb
"Dialogue is always important on all levels. And I think especially in the context of my research that I presented here, it's maybe important also for the Chinese side, Chinese think tanks, government, to know these things, and maybe they can then modify a bit what kind of content they want to promote or export to young people in Europe."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Zagreb.
(XHTV)