On May 18, Jiangsu University held the opening ceremony of the 9th International Cultural Festival at the library square. Prof. Yan Xiaohong, President of Jiangsu University and Wei Hongyang, Director of Zhenjiang Foreign Affairs Office, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Some other relevant leaders also attended the event including Qu Zhenyuan, President of the 6^th Council of China Association of Higher Education, Prof. Zhao Yutao, Vice President of JSU, Prof. Jin Lifu, Director of Publicity Department of JSU, leaders from Foreign Affairs Office of Zhenjiang Municipal people’s Government, Zhenjiang International Exchange Centre, Zhenjiang Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Zhenjiang Customs Inspection Department, representatives from companies, and leaders from JSU's functional departments, Overseas Education College, and School of Liberal Arts.

The theme of the International Cultural Festival is "Heart to Heart with the Belt and Road Initiative". The aim of this festival is to build an international cultural exchange platform to deepen cultural exchanges and understanding, strengthen the mutual understanding, support and integration between Chinese and foreign teachers and students, achieve the goal of Bringing the World into Campus, and promote the mutual understanding and friendship of Chinese and foreign students.

101 countries, thousands of Chinese and foreign students and local citizens participated in this Cultural event. The opening ceremony showcased rich, colourful, exotic cultures and customs through multinational art exhibitions, cultural performances, featured delicacies, etc. During the opening ceremony of the Cultural Festival, several enterprises came to the site to show their corporate culture to foreign students, and strive to attract more international talents to “Go Globally” hand in hand and invest in the construction of “The Belt and Road”.

This International Cultural Festival will last from May to November, during which a series of thematic activities such as cultural experience, academic exchanges, volunteer public welfare, stylistic arts, innovation and entrepreneurship will be carried out to practice the principle of facilitating communication with diversity, facilitating mutual learning with communication, and facilitating development with mutual learning.