Universities across the world celebrate culture and creativity at expo

More than 20 universities from China and around the world are showcasing their cultural and creative education achievements at an exhibition held during the Yangtze River Delta International Cultural Industries Expo in Shanghai from Nov 21 to 24.

Organized by the University of Southern California-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry (ICCI), the exhibition is themed "Empowering Shanghai With Culture and Creativity" and covers disciplines including art, design, movie and music.

Among the exhibits is an artificial intelligence system brought by a team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University which can copy the paintings of more than 100 famous artists after 14 months of deep learning. It can even infuse its own style into the works.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music has brought along live electronic music while the Shanghai Theater Academy has been performing traditional dramas and puppet shows.

The exhibition also features creative experience classes, workshops and cultural science and technology labs which showcase innovative teaching materials and creative courses developed by universities.

Zhou Bin, professor from ICCI, taught visitors calligraphy while the leather workshop launched by Donghua University allowed the audience to try their hand at crafting leather goods.

"The creativity of a city requires the gathering of first-class innovative talents, the prosperity of industries and the cultivation of professionals," said Zhang Weimin, chief curator of the exhibition.

"What makes cultural and creative disciplines special is that it's deeply based on the industry and need international vision, cross-discipline cooperation and the integration of the educational and industrial system in order to achieve sustainable development," he said.