Century Echo · World Music Culture Museum at Davos 。 01 Building Bridges Through Music: Deepening People‑to‑People Diplomacy and Connecting Nations and Cities 02 03 Cultural Soft Power as a Magnet for Investment: Using Cultural Landmarks to Boost Liaoning’s Opening‑Up and Investment Attraction 04 Drawing on Global Perspectives and Cutting‑Edge Insights: Strengthening Cultural Confidence Through the Power of Music and Museums 05 Music Connects the World, Culture Builds a New City
June 23–25, 2026 – The 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (2026 Summer Davos Forum) was grandly held in Dalian, China. Under the core theme of "Scaling Innovation," the forum brought together over 1,700 political leaders, technology pioneers, business executives, and cultural scholars from more than 90 countries and regions to explore new pathways for global economic growth and opportunities in technological and industrial transformation.
Mr. Zhang Jingxuan, Founder and Director of the World Music Culture Museum, was invited to attend this premier international event. As a dedicated practitioner of people‑to‑people cultural diplomacy and a pioneer in music‑based cultural innovation, Director Zhang engaged in in‑depth dialogues with global New Champions from the dual perspectives of culture‑enabled technology and culture‑driven urban development. Through these exchanges, he shared Dalian’s story, conveyed Liaoning’s voice, and demonstrated China’s cultural confidence, using music as a bridge for mutual learning among civilizations and injecting new momentum into Dalian’s investment promotion, Northeast China’s revitalization, and the nation’s cultural strength.
Music knows no borders; culture touches the heart. Over the years, Director Zhang Jingxuan has made people‑to‑people cultural diplomacy a core mission of the museum, going beyond the traditional boundaries of display‑only exhibitions. Leveraging the museum’s collection of over 10,000 world‑music artifacts, he has continuously promoted cross‑border and cross‑regional cultural exchanges, positioning the World Music Culture Museum as a truly international cultural hub.
Since its opening, Zhang has led his team to actively engage with major global music academies, symphony orchestras, national museums, and international cultural organizations, establishing long‑term strategic partnerships with top cultural institutions in dozens of countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Collaborative projects include joint touring exhibitions, academic exchanges, co‑hosted musical performances, digital cultural heritage initiatives, and youth artist residencies. From co‑establishing a China‑Russia Music and Cultural Exchange Center with the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, to collaborating with centuries‑old European museums on digital restoration of musical instruments; from organizing live performances by musicians from China and abroad, to building a global online sharing platform for music culture – each exchange moves beyond rigid formality, using instruments, melodies, and scores as mediums to offer international guests a direct encounter with Eastern aesthetics, a deeper understanding of the Chinese spirit, and a genuine appreciation for Liaoning’s cultural heritage.
In his international practice, Director Zhang holds a clear conviction: official diplomacy sets the framework for cooperation, while people‑to‑people cultural exchanges build the emotional foundation. Compared with the rational calculus of business negotiations, music culture possesses an inherent empathetic power that transcends geography, language, and ideology. Countless overseas business leaders and international scholars, after visiting the museum, have fundamentally revised their impressions of Northeast China. Through the museum’s millennia‑spanning collection of musical treasures, they gain insight into Dalian’s inclusive urban character and recognize the rich and diverse cultural roots of Liaoning. This Dalian‑based international music museum now plays three overlapping roles: a musical and cultural bridge between nations, a friendly exchange link between cities, and a new spiritual and cultural space for individuals.Years of sustained international cultural engagement have earned the World Music Culture Museum global recognition as a benchmark among privately‑run international museums in China. During the Summer Davos Forum, many delegates from various countries proactively approached Director Zhang to learn more about the museum’s international cooperation models and practices in cultural diplomacy, expressing keen interest in visiting China, launching cultural tourism and technology‑innovation projects, and engaging in cross‑border cultural industries. A single musical dialogue, a single museum visit, can dissolve international misperceptions and lay an emotional groundwork for subsequent economic and trade cooperation – fully demonstrating that cultural soft power is an irreplaceable core competency for urban opening‑up.
Championing the "Museum+" Model: A New Vision for Cultural Institutions, Empowering Cities Through Culture‑Driven Technology
This year’s Summer Davos Forum focused on cutting‑edge topics such as artificial intelligence, digital technology, and industrial innovation, exploring how to transform technological advances into tangible drivers of economic growth, industrial upgrading, and urban development. Director Zhang Jingxuan participated actively in multiple sub‑forums, drawing insights into AI applications across industries, the global digital economy, and the convergence of culture and technology. Drawing on his years of experience in museum operations, he systematically articulated the "Museum+" innovation framework, proposing a new development path for cultural institutions: culture as the soul, technology as the wings, industry as the foundation, and public service as the core. This approach offers fresh thinking for urban cultural innovation and the integration of technology and culture.
Leveraging AI, VR, 3D digital modeling, and immersive light‑and‑shadow technologies to create digital archives, virtual restorations, and immersive presentations of rare ancient instruments, out‑of‑print scores, and historical audiovisual materials. The museum is building an online cloud‑based digital museum, allowing global audiences to experience the world’s musical civilizations from anywhere. AI digital guides, smart interactive music installations, and virtual musician systems have been introduced to give voice to silent artifacts, transforming the cultural experience from passive viewing to interactive immersion.
’Deepening public aesthetic education, campus music outreach, youth cultural exchanges, and urban public cultural space development. These efforts continuously improve the city’s public cultural service system, enrich Dalian’s artistic atmosphere, enhance residents’ sense of cultural fulfillment, and strengthen the city’s spiritual and civilizational foundation.
Leveraging exclusive music‑related intellectual property to develop new formats such as digital cultural and creative products, music performances, immersive cultural tourism experiences, art study tours, and international music competitions. These initiatives extend the cultural industry chain, cultivate new cultural productive forces, and enable mutual empowerment and coordinated development between public‑welfare cultural undertakings and commercially viable cultural industries.
Culture and technology are never parallel lines; they are mutually reinforcing and symbiotically empowering. Technology gives culture wings to spread, while culture gives technology a human touch. In today’s fiercely competitive global innovation landscape, sheer technological prowess alone cannot create a distinctive urban competitive advantage. It is only when coupled with a profound cultural foundation that technology products gain spiritual resonance and tech industries achieve differentiated appeal. For Dalian, the "Museum+" model implemented by the World Music Culture Museum stands as a vivid example of how the city is driving the deep integration of culture and technology. On one hand, it enriches the city’s cultural offerings and shapes a highly recognizable urban artistic identity. On the other, cultural innovation attracts technology enterprises, digital talent, and cultural tourism investment, transforming cultural resources into core strengths for investment promotion and industrial agglomeration.
A city’s overall competitiveness is built on a framework of hard power, animated by soft power. Both cultural public services and cultural industries constitute the core of a city’s soft power – they act as an invisible "investment‑promotion card" that attracts talent, capital, and international resources, and serve as a key vehicle for building a business‑friendly environment and expanding opening‑up. At the Summer Davos Forum – a major global gathering for investment, industrial, and innovation‑resource matchmaking – Director Zhang Jingxuan comprehensively presented Dalian and Liaoning’s unique cultural strengths to global New Champions, clearly articulating how a cultural landmark can empower a city’s business environment and investment promotion.
When investors choose a city for business, they consider not only industrial policies, transportation, and supporting infrastructure, but also the city’s humanistic environment, its spirit of openness and inclusiveness, and its capacity for sustainable spiritual and cultural enrichment. A city with a world‑class international museum signals that it values cultural development, respects innovation and creativity, and possesses a diverse and inclusive global perspective. Such a city becomes significantly more attractive to multinational corporations, high‑end tech talent, and overseas investment institutions, as it offers high‑quality cultural amenities for business settlement and talent relocation. As a globally renowned international music‑culture landmark, the World Music Culture Museum hosts visiting dignitaries, overseas entrepreneurs, and international tech teams throughout the year, functioning as Dalian’s premier “city reception hall” for high‑level international exchanges.
Past experience has shown that numerous overseas enterprises, when visiting Liaoning for investment inspections, include the World Music Culture Museum as a key stop on their itineraries. Amid the interplay of melodies and artifacts, international investors directly experience Dalian’s open and inclusive urban character, appreciate Liaoning’s profound cultural heritage and vitality of cultural innovation, and develop a deep‑seated trust in the region’s business environment. This effectively reduces cross‑cultural communication costs in cooperation and facilitates the implementation of economic and trade partnerships. During this Summer Davos Forum, many founders of multinational companies and heads of overseas investment institutions engaged in in‑depth conversations with Director Zhang, proactively inquiring about Liaoning’s supporting policies for cultural tourism and technology innovation, Dalian’s international cultural cooperation resources, and expressing interest in launching integrated culture‑technology projects and cross‑border music industry collaborations.
Director Zhang observed that, in contrast to traditional industry‑based investment promotion, culture‑based investment promotion works subtly and delivers long‑term results. Industrial policies provide short‑term incentives for landing investment, while cultural appeal shapes a city’s enduring attractiveness. By leveraging the World Music Culture Museum as an international cultural window, and through the regular hosting of international music forums, cross‑border art exhibitions, and digital cultural innovation summits, it is possible to bring together global elites on an ongoing basis, establishing an integrated platform for both cultural exchange and economic and trade matchmaking – truly enabling "culture sets the stage, economy and trade take the spotlight." This approach leverages cultural soft power to unlock real‑economy growth, continuously fueling Liaoning’s comprehensive revitalization breakthrough and Dalian’s new high‑level opening‑up.
The 2026 Summer Davos Forum brought together cutting‑edge ideas, top technology trends, and global economic outlooks, opening up a new international perspective for Director Zhang Jingxuan. During the sessions, he focused intently on core topics including AI applications across industries, the digital transformation of the global cultural industry, mutual learning among civilizations and sustainable development, and regional innovation cooperation in Northeast Asia. Drawing on the innovative thinking, industry operation models, and international communication expertise shared by global New Champions, he combined these insights with his own planning for the museum’s development to formulate a clear blueprint for the future.
Director Zhang remarked that the world today is in an era where inter‑civilizational exchange and cultural competition coexist. Telling China’s story effectively cannot rely on abstract slogans; it requires tangible, international, and culturally resonant carriers. Music is a universal language of humanity, and a music museum is naturally endowed with cross‑cultural communication advantages. Going forward, the World Music Culture Museum will leverage the cutting‑edge concepts gained at this Davos Forum to further upgrade its integrated "Museum + Technology" system: increasing investment in AI‑driven digital cultural heritage R&D, building a multilingual global online music‑culture dissemination platform; expanding its international museum alliance network, launching more joint digital exhibitions and cross‑border music and art projects with international partners; and collaborating with Dalian’s tech enterprises and university research teams to develop new formats such as music‑based digital creative products, immersive performing arts, and metaverse music spaces, creating a leading domestic and internationally recognized cluster for music‑culture technology innovation.
From the strategic perspective of strengthening national cultural confidence, Director Zhang positions himself as a cultural ambassador of people‑to‑people diplomacy, embracing a dual mission: internally, to deepen local cultural development, enrich public cultural services in Liaoning and Dalian, and foster a sense of cultural identity and pride among residents; externally, to continue deepening people‑to‑people cultural diplomacy, using melodies to break down cognitive barriers and present to the world a credible, endearing, and admirable image of China, along with the profound and inclusive spirit of Liaoning and the vibrant openness of Dalian.
He emphasized that the path to cultural rejuvenation in the new era calls for every cultural institution and every cultural practitioner to engage wholeheartedly. With music as the bond and the museum as the base, we must continue to promote Chinese culture globally, using sound that travels across mountains and seas to convey the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, and enabling the world – through Dalian and through Liaoning – to understand the core values of inclusiveness, coexistence, and peaceful development that underpin Chinese civilization.
The 2026 Summer Davos Forum, hosted in Dalian, represents a pivotal opportunity for global attention to focus on Liaoning and Northeast China. Director Zhang Jingxuan stepped onto the international stage in his dual capacity as Director of the World Music Culture Museum and a people‑to‑people cultural diplomacy envoy, facilitating a profound dialogue between the cultural heritage sector and the global platform for economic innovation. His presence vividly illustrated the deeper logic of culture empowering technology, culture empowering cities, and culture empowering opening‑up.
A museum is a bridge for mutual learning among civilizations; a melody is a bond connecting the world. Looking ahead, Director Zhang will continue to lead the World Music Culture Museum team in adhering to its founding mission of people‑to‑people cultural diplomacy, deepening the innovative "Museum+" practice, activating musical and cultural resources through digital technology, and leveraging cultural soft power to empower urban investment promotion and industrial upgrading. Rooted in Dalian, grounded in Liaoning, and with a global vision, the museum will continue to build a lasting platform for mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.
Revitalizing China through culture, conveying the Chinese Dream through sound! The World Music Culture Museum will continue to leverage its unique value as an international cultural landmark, enabling more global New Champions to understand China, perceive Liaoning, and fall in love with Dalian. Through the power of culture, we will contribute to the full revitalization of Northeast China, to our nation’s cultural confidence and strength, and to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
