Contemporary China-Türkiye Cultural Exchange: Status Quo and Future Prospects

The year 2026 marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Türkiye, which are two ancient civilisations at the eastern and western ends of the Silk Road, having a long history of cultural exchanges. This paper explores China-Türkiye cultural exchanges by reviewing their traces in the original Silk Road and summarising the achievements and characteristics of contemporary China-Türkiye cultural exchanges. The study finds that contemporary China-Türkiye cultural exchanges are guided by the governments, featuring diverse cooperations and interactions across multiple fields. Throughout this process, equal communication and mutual respect are upheld, and efforts are made to integrate historical culture with modern culture to innovate and renew traditions, forming a cross-civilisation dialogue against the background of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Civilisation Initiative. In the future, the two countries can continue to promote long-term and high-quality cultural exchanges by deepening cooperation content, innovating exchange channels, and fostering people-to-people interactions.