A tale of two cities — and the legendary Grand Canal

Beijing and Hangzhou discuss preservation and future of historic waterway

The 2024 Grand Canal Cultural Belt Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue opened in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, last Monday, gathering both Chinese and overseas guests from various sectors to offer their insights and suggestions for the construction of the cultural belt.

It also marked the 10th anniversary of the Grand Canal being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ancient artificial waterway was officially added to the list at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Doha, Qatar, in June 2014.

The dialogue, themed "A Decade of Great Transformation: the Grand Canal Flows Toward the Future", was co-hosted by the Information Office of Beijing, the Zhejiang Provincial Government Information Office, the Hangzhou city government, China News Service, and the World Historic and Cultural Canal Cities Organization.

With a history of more than 2,500 years, the Grand Canal, connecting Beijing and Hangzhou, served as a significant transportation artery in ancient China.

During the opening ceremony, Liu Wei, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, said the capital has treated the Grand Canal cultural belt as a landmark project during the city's construction of a national cultural center over the past 10 years.

In the future, Beijing will leverage the Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue as a tool to preserve historic heritage, promote integrated development through inheritance, and develop civilizational consensus via communication and exchanges, in a bid to inject new vitality into the ancient waterway, Liu added.

Liu Jie, deputy Party secretary of Zhejiang province and secretary of the CPC Hangzhou committee, said Hangzhou will innovate the model for Grand Canal protection together with other cities along the waterway.

They will also jointly enhance the inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal culture, as well as create a model for the protection of large-scale living heritage.

During the past decade, Zhejiang has supported the in-depth integration of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park with the internet, sci-tech and finance sectors, and promoted cultural and creative industries such as digital creativity and industrial design.

Also, by centering on the Grand Canal culture, the province has developed a batch of new business formats and scenarios over the past few years.

The first Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue was held in 2019 in Hangzhou, with the theme "Culture and Technology to Promote the Revival of the Grand Canal". It was organized to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation between the northern and southern ends of the Grand Canal, and to form a consensus on the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal cultural belt.

This year marks the fifth session of the dialogue. Experts participating in the event said the Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue has served as an important platform for showcasing the rich and diverse culture of the cities along the Grand Canal, and promoting their exchanges and cooperation in various sectors.

For example, during the opening ceremony, the Xiling Seal Engraver's Society and the China National Academy of Painting signed a cultural cooperation agreement, also Hangzhou Commerce and Tourism Group and Beijing Tourism Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement.

Beijing and Hangzhou — at each end of the Grand Canal — have played their roles in driving regional development and reached multiple cooperation agreements for telling rich stories about the canal and opening a new chapter of high-quality integration among the cultural and tourism industries, organizers said.

This year, the dialogue saw the release of the Grand Canal Cultural Dictionary and research on the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal (Hangzhou section) based on the cultural heritage value system.

Moreover, it has planned 16 activities, such as the third China Grand Canal Ancient Town Development Cultural Week, which began last Wednesday, and an achievements exhibition of the Grand Canal cultural belt construction, which features more than 100 entries including photos, books and intangible cultural heritage items.

The activities are aimed at displaying precious cultural relics discovered along the waterway and revealing lifestyles of the Grand Canal in the new era, organizers said.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn