Recently, Tianjin University and the French Embassy in China held a signing ceremony on the Weijin Road campus of Tianjin University to jointly build the Sino-French Cultural Heritage and Urban Research Center. Jin Donghan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Tianjin University, and Luo Liang, the ambassador of the French Embassy in China, signed the letter of intent on behalf of the two parties. Luan Jianzhang, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Tianjin Municipal People's Government, and heads of relevant departments such as the Municipal Education Commission witnessed the signing moment.

The two sides decided by the end of 2022, the French Embassy in China will cooperate with Tianjin University to jointly establish the "Centre franco-chinois de la ville et du patrimoine". As the firstcenterbetween China and France with the theme of cultural heritage and cities. The center will takeTianjin as its main support city and Tianjin University School of Architecture as its main support university. Focusingon how to make cultural heritage vibrant, and better integrate into urban development and construction and daily life, it will also carry out related scientific research and vocational training. The cooperation will become a bridge between China and France anda link between China and Europe in the new era which further demonstrate the devoted efforts and determined attitudes from the two major cultural heritage countries in order to protect the cultural heritage of mankind. In the future, the center plans to hold large-scale international forums every year, continue to carry out vocational training,and promote international cooperation between China, France and Europe.

France is the first major western country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Tianjin University has built cooperative relations with more than 30 France universities and scientific research institutions, and has carried out fruitful and practical cooperation in many fields.

Cultural heritage cooperation has always been one of the most significant cooperation highlights between China and France. In 2019, China and France signed a joint statement on collaborationin the field of cultural heritage, which creates the conditions for Sino-French cultural heritage cooperation in the new era. The establishment of the "Sino-French Cultural Heritage and Urban Research Center" is a concrete action to implement the agreement, and another important milestone incooperation ofChina and France in the field of cultural heritage. The contracting parties believed that with the full cooperation, the "Sino-French Cultural Heritage and Urban Research Center" will definitely play an important role in the protection of world cultural heritage.

After the signing ceremony, the Sino-French Cultural Heritage and Urban Research Center held its first academic seminar.