"It wasn't until Whitmarsh had been herded into the main hall that he grasped what he'd signed up for: 'a geopolitical event, not an intellectual one,' as he put it, with hosts including Greece and China's ministries of culture."
"At the podium, Li read out a letter from Xi, which described ancient Greece and China as two civilizations that have shaped humanity's development from opposite sides of Eurasia. Xi went on to encourage their cultural exchange and announced the establishment of a Chinese School of Classical Studies in Athens."
China has organized a major international conference on classical studies, positioning ancient Greek and Latin scholarship as a strategic cultural initiative. Xi Jinping's government, represented by propaganda chief Li Shulei, hosted the World Conference of Classics at a prestigious Beijing venue, bringing together international scholars, politicians, and cultural ministers including Greece's culture minister. Xi's letter framed ancient Greece and China as complementary civilizations that shaped human development from opposite sides of Eurasia, emphasizing cultural exchange. The conference announcement included establishing a Chinese School of Classical Studies in Athens. Western-trained classical scholars recognized this as a geopolitical event rather than purely intellectual gathering, reflecting China's broader strategy to use classical humanities as soft power.
Read at The New Yorker
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