On the occasion of Sun Yat-sen University's centenary celebration, the 8th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference 2024 was held in Sun Yat-sen University from November 25-30. As the Co holder of UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Heritage Tourism along the Silk Roads, Professor Tongqian Zou delivered a speech titles “Silk Road Cultural Heritage: Social Construct and Criticism in Different Discourses”, which analyzed the different social constructs of Silk Road by Central Asia, China, Russia, USA, Turkey, India, Japan and Korea by applying VOSViewer and ChatGTP, the speech had caused a great response among the scholars of UNESCO UNITWIN members.

On December 1, the 1st Global Deans’ Forum of Tourism Education was held by School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University, Professor Tongqian Zou shared a speech on “Higher Tourism Education in Central Asia: Current Status and Future Directions”. It has attracted enthusiastic attention from deans and rectors of tourism colleges and universities from more than 20 countries around the world.