Chapter Ⅴ Strategies and Paths for Xiamen to promote the people-to-people exchanges in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative
To carry out the people-to-people exchanges in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xiamen has to actively integrate it into the national strategic planning and the one of Fujian province. It has to mobilize resources to cooperate with the national and provincial planning, as well as to innovate and show its own characteristics. Xiamen should clear two basic starting points: one is to focus on the countries around the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road（Maritime Silk Road）by concentrating on South-East Asian countries; another is to globally integrate the human and cultural resources of Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou to promote the regional development. Xiamen has lots of advantages in human and cultural traditions and construction, as well as cultural industry development to carry out the people-to-people exchanges with the Silk Road countries.
Lots of exchanges and cooperation have been carried out between Xiamen and the Maritime Silk Road countries, but facing the fact that there are many ethnic groups and the religious question is complicated in the Maritime Silk Road countries, Xiamen has to fully realize the challenges eventually generated by the differences in ethnic cultures, religions and social systems, as well as different development phase in these countries. Meanwhile, Xiamen has to profit from the resources of Chinese Diasporas in these countries, so as to make it to be an important link for the people-to-people exchanges.
Xiamen should clear two strategic objectives forthe people-to-people exchanges in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative: at external level, to seek the “People-to-people bond, consensus construction”; at internal level, to promote the local integration of Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. To carry out people-to-people exchanges with the Maritime Silk Road countries for Xiamen, constitute resource-propellers the Minnan culture, Nanyang culture and Marine culture, which should be well used. Xiamen should notice that people-to-people exchanges need not only governmental direction, but also non-governmental contacts, need also both “inviting to come in” and “going out”, need still more to pay attention to promote collaboration with strategic and mutual trust, economic and commercial cooperation.
In terms of implementation path of people-to-people exchanges, Xiamen may determinate seven key areas: ethnicity and religion, culture and folkways, education and training, scientific research, creative industries, youth exchanges and media cooperation. Meanwhile, several key projects should be well planned and conducted: Nanyang Culture Festival, Marine Folkloric Festival, China（Xiamen）International Forum of Friendship Cities, Cultural tourism in the Maritime Silk Road countries, creative industry development, media cooperation, etc.
People-to-people exchanges need overall planning and coordination. We could neither isolate them from the five key areas of the Belt and Road Initiative, nor consider that cultural exchanges belong only to the cultural sectors of government, which in fact need extensively mobilize the forces of government, society and market.