A seminar on "revitalizing rural areas with culture and art" was held during an academic forum at Shandong University of Finance and Economics on April 22.

More than 10 domestic and overseas experts had in-depth discussion on the topic and gave their advice on how to revitalize Shandong's villages.

Wang Shaojun, secretary of the Party committee of Shandong University of Finance and Economics, held the opinion that driving the implementation of a rural revitalization strategy is the responsibility of universities.

"We should make full use of the advantages of talents and cultural resource in serving the rural revitalization strategy that aims at protecting rural culture, rejuvenating rural civilization and developing the rural tourism industry," he said.

Soichiro Fukutake, an honorary adviser to Japan's Benesse Group, introduced his experience of reconstructing abandoned islands with art and making them famous resorts of Japanese culture, art and tourism.

In the 1980s, Fukutake and architect Tadao Ando launched a campaign to revitalize Naoshima with art, which attracted famous artists from around the world to the island where they made designed and completed artistic works.

The island town was gradually constructed into "Naoshima art village".

Fukutake suggested that reconstructing countrysides and improving peasants' life should be based on and protect local history and culture.

Shandong's Yiyuan county is carrying out a peach blossom island art revitalization project. Its initiator, Dong Fangjun, noted that the project should learn from the experience of Japan's Naoshima and build the project into a demonstration of Shandong's rural revitalization.

The attending experts believed that revitalizing rural areas with local culture and art will provide a new way for Shandong.

The seminar was organized by the Shandong University of Finance and Economics and the China Global Philanthropy Institute.