Broad scope of opinions to influence canal culture

Concurrent events focused on historical waterway held in Beijing last week

Guests from governments, culture and tourism industries, universities and academic research institutions from home and abroad recently gathered in Beijing to share opinions and offer suggestions on the construction of China's Grand Canal Cultural Belt at a forum last week.

They also proposed further discussions on the protection, inheritance and utilization of this world cultural heritage site.

The 2023 China Grand Canal Cultural Belt Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue kicked off on Nov 13 in the Chinese capital, as well as the Beijing (International) Canal Cultural Festival. It was the first time these two events were held simultaneously.

A series of online and offline activities, including cultural and art performances, were organized during the two events to attract public participation and help to integrate the Grand Canal culture into contemporary life.

The dialogue, themed "Inheriting the Grand Canal Culture and Empowering a Better Life", was co-sponsored by the information offices of Beijing and Zhejiang governments, the Hangzhou city government, China News Service, and the World Historic and Cultural Canal Cities Cooperation Organization.

"With extensive history and profound culture, Beijing serves as witness to the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization," said Mo Gaoyi, head of the capital's publicity department.

"It has the responsibility to better leverage the advantages as an ancient capital and a national cultural center, in a bid to promote cultural prosperity, build a cultural powerhouse and develop a modern civilization of the Chinese nation," Mo noted.

Beijing has regarded the Grand Canal Cultural Belt construction as one of the landmark projects for building a national cultural center. Related initiatives, like building national cultural parks and protecting 229 cultural relics, have been carried out in recent years.

The Grand Canal is the world's longest artificial waterway. It starts in Beijing, passes through Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu, and flows into Zhejiang's Hangzhou city.

The 2,500-year-old waterway has served as the backbone of China's inland communication system since the Sui Dynasty (581-618), transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population. It was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2014.

At the beginning of this year, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei officially issued the decision on the joint promotion of the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal culture, and established a consultation mechanism.

"The participation of Tianjin and Hebei has helped to make new strides in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Mo said, hoping that people-to-people and cultural exchanges could be deepened, and related mechanisms and platforms improved when protecting the Grand Canal cultural heritage.

Shen Lei, head of Tianjin's publicity department, said as an important city along the Grand Canal, Tianjin has enriched understanding and accumulated valuable experience these years in practicing the protection, inheritance and utilization of canal culture.

Shen stressed the importance of exploring and promoting the cultural value of the Grand Canal and took the dialogue as an opportunity to strengthen the driving force to assist the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development.

The inheritance and prosperity of the Grand Canal culture cannot be separated from the development of the cultural and tourism industry, experts said.

At the opening ceremony of the events, Zhang Zengran, spokesman of Beijing Grand Canal Culture and Tourism Development, and Lu Xiaoliang, chairman of Hangzhou Business and Travel Canal Group, signed a cooperation agreement to develop cultural and tourism products in relation to the Grand Canal.

Also, Chen Mingjie, Party secretary and director of the Beijing Cultural Heritage Bureau, displayed cultural achievements in the construction of the Beijing section of the Grand Canal. They include new breakthroughs and progress made through 2020-23 in such fields as archaeology, cultural relics protection and environmental improvement.

Moreover, a documentary was released to show a group of Chinese and foreign media outlets and artists touring the Grand Canal, and an exhibition was organized to display key canal cultural relics under national-level protection.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn