UB Lecturer in Chinese Language and Culture, Yang Nadia Miranti, said the university played a leading role in facilitating the visit of Professor Xiang "Hardy" Yong, UNESCO Chair on Creativity and Sustainable Development in Rural Areas and Dean of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University, to explore Malang’s cultural industry potential.

“UB’s academic diplomacy with Peking University was vital,” Miranti said in a statement that ANTARA released here Saturday. She added that Professor Hardy and UB’s Faculty of Humanities visited several sites in Malang in February 2025 to assess local creative assets.

Professor Hardy, accompanied by UB representatives and Malang municipal officials, toured the Malang Creative Center, Kayutangan Heritage Village, and Polowijen Cultural Village. The visits led to discussions that produced an official recommendation letter, a key document supporting Malang’s nomination to UNESCO.

The letter affirmed Malang’s strong commitment to developing a thriving media arts ecosystem. According to Miranti, the recommendation provided international academic validation for UNESCO’s evaluation committee and opened new opportunities for collaboration with other creative cities such as Changsha in China and Gwangju in South Korea.

Malang’s creativity, she added, reflects a rich blend of Indonesian and Chinese cultural elements seen in its cuisine, arts, and architecture. “Malang embodies the spirit of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network—a place where media arts foster cultural resilience, economic vitality, and social cohesion,” Miranti said.

Professor Hardy also proposed establishing a Media Arts Innovation Council and developing a Media Arts Impact Index in partnership with UB to measure creative cities’ contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.

UB and Peking University would soon launch a UNESCO Chair Workstation, initiate a student mobility program in 2026, and support Malang’s plans to build sister-city and sister-village partnerships with counterparts in China, he was quoted by Miranti as saying.

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Editor : Rahmad Nasution

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